The Vampire Diaries: History of Klaus, Katherine, and Damon.

Chapter One: Klaus

The cold dawn air rushed around me as I fled into the woods. How could my younger brother be dead? Brutally slaughtered by the wolf creatures we once thought we had an alliance with. What was this? What was this torturous game they were playing?

I ducked under a wispy tree branch and collapsed on the ground, suddenly struck by grief. My brother Henrik, why did I have to be the one to carry him home?

My parents, my magical mother and brutal father, planned to make us, the rest of their children, become more powerful than the wolf creatures, maybe that would be nice to have all that power. My father was only allowing this because he wanted to become a creature himself.

Then I shook with rage, my brutal father! Always ordering me around, treating me harshly, just because I wasn't his. Yes, I wasn't his, but was it my fault that my mother had an affair with the wolf man? It wasn't my fault in any way!

I got to my feet, and started walking back to camp, a determined grimace on my face. I would show father who really was in charge around here, I was growing stronger by the day, I could already beat my siblings in sword fights, and it was about time I could beat my father too. I started running.

I slid to a stop at the entrance of the camp, my camp. A thought had suddenly struck me, if I just took some of father's beatings for a little longer, just until mother made me a more powerful creature, I could surely beat father. I could surely take away all those brutal memories of the fatherhood that went so completely wrong.

I can do this, I thought as I entered my family's cottage.

"Niklaus." I turned at the sound of my name, and saw Rebekah, my sister, looking at me.

"Niklaus," she repeated in a scolding tone while I rolled my eyes and looked the other way.

She ignored me trying to ignore her and continued on, "You have that look right now, brother. Do you have any bloody plans up your sleeve? Do not act on them now. You should not mess with father, you and I both know that." Then her gaze softened, "I don't want to see you get hurt again."

I put on my best, charming smile and looked at her. "Oh sister, you know me so well, yet you got my plans all wrong, for I do not plan to act now. But I do appreciate your caring about my well being, but I don't think I will ever be well."

"Is that so?" She looked doubtfully on me with that judging stare I hate, questioning both of my statements.

"That is so." I said through gritted teeth, trying to get control of my temper.

Rebekah narrowed her eyes and stared at me for a long time, her stare was painful.

Finally, she shrugged her shoulders, "Don't say I didn't warn you, brother. Just try to stay as well as you can be."

"Goodbye Rebekah." I walked by her, bumping her shoulder on my way out.

After finding the cottage empty besides Rebekah, I found my way to the dirt pit in the middle of the camp that was used for sword fighting.

I found my familiar, sharpened, iron sword lying in a heap of old, rusty ones.

I picked it out, being careful not to cut myself, and practiced the techniques that had made me win many battles.

One of my closer brothers, Elijah, approached.

"Greetings, Niklaus." He picked up one of the rusty swords and bowed, one hand behind his back, "Would you like to duel, brother?"

I smiled, taking the chance to show off my skills, "With pleasure."

I sarcastically put a hand behind my back like Elijah did, and bowed.

"There you go, brother. Let's do this properly."

Elijah stiffened a little, but then grinned and held up his sword.

I held up mine, and the fight begun.

You could call Elijah graceful with the sword. His feet slid forward smoothly when he was attacking, and they slid back in the same way when he was defending. He rarely missed a strike.

To be honest, Elijah's gracefulness was a pile of dirt compared to mine. My steps weren't only smooth; they were swift, which made me move twice as fast as Elijah.

My strikes were extremely accurate, I never missed, and my blocks had so much force that Elijah's sword often ended up pointing towards his own chest.

So, soon enough I had both swords pointing towards my brother.

Elijah chuckled, "I'll admit, sword fighting is one of your many skills."

I smiled and raised my eyebrows. I am not only the skilled fighter, I'm the champion.

"Niklaus!" I shuddered at the sound of Mikael's, my father's ruthless voice, " Why in the world do you have your sword pointed at Elijah's neck?" He said this like it was no surprise.

"Father," I shot back, "We were sword fighting, and I won. And that's what you do when you win; you point your sword at your opponent's neck. It wasn't for real."

"Of course it wasn't for real," my father snapped, "if it was for real your bloody head would be on the other side of camp." Then he smiled like he didn't mean it, but I knew he did.

He continued on, "Anyway, you're up and playing again so soon after Henrik's death?"

I noticed how he said Henrik, and not my brother. But before I could respond, Elijah interjected.

"Father, we were just trying to drown our sorrows. Of course it's heart-breaking for us, especially for Niklaus, but I don't think our brother would want us to stop our lives."

"Very well Elijah, but I don't think that beast you call 'Niklaus' has a heart." Mikael sighed, and then walked away in that strutting walk of his.

Elijah opened his mouth like he was going to speak, but then thought better of it.

"I know Elijah," I murmured sarcastically, "I shouldn't mess with Mikael."

"Niklaus." He stated looking at me, "Of course you shouldn't, he's our father, and you do know what he will do to you."

"He shouldn't be our father!" I snapped, anger flaring up inside, but I hid it after that. "Farewell Elijah, see you at dinnertime."

I stalked of in my own strutting walk, mumbling to myself about life's unfairness.

I didn't really know where I would go, but I just wanted to get away from there, so I ran deep into the forest like I had this morning.

When I felt I was far enough away from that monster, I sat on the leaves and leaned my head back against a tree.

I laughed in a sickened tone; maybe this would become my new father escape. Running into the forest every time something went wrong with father, if that was the case, I would be running here every time I saw him.

I erased the thought as quickly as it came, no I would not be weak, and this would be the last time I would come here.

I blinked, erasing the tears that were forming in my eyes; I was strong.

The wispy oak trees swayed around me as I got to my feet, making me lose my balance for a second. But I quickly regained it and started walking.

As I neared my camp I quickly realized, I should bring him back something he wouldn't criticize me for. I would bring back the meal we would eat tonight.

I darted into the hunting shed, grabbed a bow and a couple of arrows, and then I was on my way.

I headed along the river this time, running along the soggy bank.

Eventually, after a mile or so, I came along some deer tracks. I crouched down on the damp earth and studied them carefully; it looked like they were headed north.

I straightened and broke into a full on sprint, enjoying the freedom of the woods for the first time. I could run as fast as I wanted to, and no one would care.

I could scream as loud as I wanted and no one would hear.

I slid to a stop and leaned my head back, howling at the sun. That was the first real pleasure I had felt in a very long time.

Then I continued following the deer tracks for about another ten minutes.

When I finally found the deer, they were grazing in a small meadow by a river.

I made my footsteps light, careful not to step on any twigs, I slunk around a large pine.

The deer were two does, and they seemed oblivious to their surroundings, they had not sensed me yet.

I quietly slipped an arrow out from my back and strung it on the bow the best I could.

I aimed it at the larger doe and took a step forward to get a better view.

My right foot crunched a small twig, splitting it in half.

The two does spun around, their large brown eyes fearful, and their long brown legs tightening.

I cursed and let my arrow fly.

It narrowly missed the does and embedded itself in an oak on the other side of the meadow.

The deer quickly disappeared into the trees.

I
cursed again and went to retrieve my arrow, thinking about my father's wrath that would soon come.

On the way home, I searched for any other wildlife, but I found nothing. I made my walk slower despite the sinking sun.

When I finally reached my camp, I saw Mikael standing by our cottage with his arms folded, a large, angry scowl on his face.

When he saw me appear out of the trees, he stormed over to me.

"Niklaus!" The anger deepened as he yelled my name, "Where in the world were you? Your mother insisted we wait for you for dinner, and we've been waiting for hours!"

I looked up at the sky; the last fades of orange from the sun were starting to disappear.

"Sorry," I mumbled, "I didn't know how late-"

He didn't let me finish, "No excuses! I don't even want to know what you were doing in there, just get inside."

He saw the bow and arrows that I still had. "And put those away."

He walked into the cottage, slamming the door behind him.

I sighed, hefted the bow over my shoulder, and headed to the hunting shed.

I hung the bow on the wall and put the arrows back in their case, I ran to the cottage.

As I opened the door, I was met with Elijah's welcoming hug, "I'm glad you're alright, brother."

I heard my father's scoff in the corner, but I ignored it.

Rebekah got up from her chair, scowled at father, and hugged me too.

"Stay strong." She whispered in my ear before she sat back down.

I gave her a grateful glance before I sat down in my own chair, the chair farthest away from Mikael.

My other brothers, Kol and Finn, both gave me half smiles.

Then my mother whisked in, platefuls of food in her arms, "Enjoy." She said as she set down the plates in the middle of the table. Looked like someone else had caught a deer.

My mother had long blonde hair with dark eyes, and an angular face. It was a kind face and sometimes it was the only thing that kept me going. Little did I know that that would soon change.

"Thank you for dinner mother." I said.

She glanced at me with a sad smile, "I'm glad you could come, Klaus."

I dug into the food, not caring enough to wonder if my father had poisoned it.

As soon as we had all finished our meals, my mother spoke.

"I have an announcement, if you would all kindly listen."

All heads turned up.

" Of course, mother." Five voices answered.

Mikael just nodded.

Mother continued on, her voice soft, " I know we are all still grieving after the loss of our beloved Henrik, and it is difficult for us to think about him," that brought a few tears to the eyes of my siblings.

"But I think it is time for us to avenge him."

She shot a look at my father that I didn't quite understand.

I just nodded.