Chapter 1: False Pretensions
It's been 2700 years since I was born. 2680 years since Elijah turned me into one of his kind.
I remember first meeting Elijah, Rebekah, and Klaus. They had come to Rome as cultured foreigners. They were beautiful, mysterious foreigners that everybody at once fell in love with, including me. It was a rarity to see outsiders come into the walls of Rome, hardly anybody was allowed in but somehow they had managed their way into our society. I was born the first daughter to Emperor Caligula, Princess Aurelia. My father was entering his third year of power when the three of them waltzed into Rome and when I first saw them the breath had escaped my lungs. They looked so different so ethereal that they seemed almost like the gods and goddesses of our religion, although it would have been blasphemous to say so. Elijah had a benign smile on his face, Rebekah's lustrous, golden hair caught the attention of every male in the room, and then there was Klaus. Klaus walked in proudly with an arrogant smirk on his face. Yet nobody dared to take offense because he had a dangerous aura about him that nobody wanted to upset.
They greeted my father and then Emperor Caligula turned to me, "May I present my eldest daughter, Princess Aurelia. She is 20 years old, with no husband or child to her name." he spoke almost bitterly. 20 was old, very old back then.
Klaus's lips lifted in a charming smile, "20 years old and still a beauty." He took my hand. "It is an honor to meet you Princess Aurelia." He kissed my hand once and then withdrew back. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Rebekah, rolling her eyes.
"Likewise, Lord Niklaus." I turned to bow towards Elijah and Rebekah which they returned just as politely.
They resided in the palace for over a month and I had become great friends with the three of them. I learned about all their quirks, habits and their expressions and became quite keen when it came to knowing what they were thinking. Likewise, they learned the same things about me.
Klaus was like the wind, always flitting around. He never lost his composure and always seemed so sure of himself. He spoke flirtatiously with me but I would always see him with some woman in the palace gardens or just outside of his chambers. It didn't bother me; I was attracted to his charm but not in a romantic way. He always seemed to disappear and I once attempted to follow him before losing him after a few minutes. We were friends, but he was always a mystery, an enigma to my naïve mind.
Elijah was moral, had values and despised violence. He would always purse his lips and clench his fingers together whenever he was unhappy. When he was pleased, his eyebrows rose ever so slightly and his lips would pull back into quick smile, before composing his face again.
I loved Elijah, I really did. He was one of those people that people were instantly drawn to. It was like a moth to the flame. I was enthralled by his stories of travel and would often visit his chambers (rather scandalously) and listen to him tell me all about his adventures. It was one of the best moments of my 2000 year life, listening to his low voice recount tales about greedy thieves and exotic animals. Some of them seemed too fanciful to be true but it didn't quite matter to me.
Rebekah and I also became quite close. She was a hot-tempered young lady who did the most outrageous and unlady-like things one could possibly imagine. She chastised me often for not being adventurous enough.
"Really, Aurelia I do adore you and all, but sometimes you can be such a bore." She commented bluntly. My handmaidens' mouths dropped open as they heard her speak this way. If it had been anybody else, they would have been executed for insulting the Royal Family.
I sighed. She had often told me this. "Then what do you suppose I do?" I recall asking her dryly.
"You have a thing for my brother, Elijah." She grinned.
I flushed and shushed her, "Rebekah!" I motioned to the handmaidens that were still around, giggling with the information that they had heard.
She shrugged and then turned to them. "Forget what you heard, now leave the room." The nodded obligingly. I never understood how she could always get people to do things for her until I had been turned and learned about compulsion.
"I do not." I replied hotly.
"You do. Don't fret; I'll help set the two of you together." She smirked and then got up, flipping her blonde hair over her tunic. I'll retire for the night and speak with Elijah." She left promptly leaving me to wonder how she had known.
And true to her word, she had set Elijah and me together, as companions for the next festival. Little did I know that night would be my last as a human.
Rebekah sat at the bar, drinking another shot of Scotch. She was furious at the Salvatores, the doppelganger wench, her brother and mostly at herself for being too weak to leave town by herself. What was it about her attachment to family that made it impossible to leave Nik even though he treated her like another one of his pawns? She had heard the chaos that resulted in Alaric being desiccated. Served him right for trying to skewer her on top of some locker, Klaus hadn't taken Elena…yet. Rebekah took another gulp of alcohol. Elena, Elena, Elena. She was getting sick of that girl. Everybody was hung up on that girl and there wasn't even anything remotely special about her.
"Still sulking?" A smooth voice came. She rolled her eyes almost instantly. She put on the fakest smile she could muster.
"Damon, you're back. What a pleasure." The sarcasm rolled off her tongue like honey.
"I'm here to celebrate another victory before charging up for another battle." He winked at her. "It involves taking out the Originals, just FYI. I want you to get a head start; it'd be a shame to kill you so quickly."
".Ha." she shot back mirthlessly. "You're really going to take the chance that you might kill one of your own bloodlines?" she put on a confident smile. "After all, with Mary dead, you have no idea where your bloodline comes from."
He shrugged, "Well we know one of you turned Mary. We'll take those chances."
Wrong. Rebekah silently thought. It hadn't been one of the originals. It had been another close friend of theirs. But it wasn't like she was going to go off spouting that information, especially not to Damon. She knew exactly who turned Mary, it was Aurelia. And Elijah had turned Aurelia leaving her, Kol and Klaus vulnerable to the invincible white Oak stake. But Aurelia was long gone. There was no way that the Salvatores would ever find out their bloodline origins.
She took another sip of the Scotch. Perhaps it was time to find Aurelia. That would be nearly impossible but in order to protect their preservation, it was a necessary risk. "Damon, you can't expect me to believe you'd be so reckless with your life." She purred.
He chuckled, "Oh, you don't know how far I'd go to make sure this town is rid of Originals. Cheers?" he held up his glass and Rebekah reluctantly clinked their glasses against his. Damn brute, always cocky and sure of himself.
"I'm leaving." She stood up abruptly, feeling more anxious by the minute. For all she knew, Damon had the white Oak stake tucked away inside his leather jacket and was plotting to kill her while she sat sipping her drink.
"Relax, I'm not about to kill you." He opened his leather jacket to show he wasn't carrying anything lethal. He held up his wallet. "Oohh, so sharp." He mocked.
Rebekah glared at him before feeling a tap on her shoulder. "Miss, this is for you." A human stood behind her with mousy brown hair. He held a wrinkled not within his small hands. She snatched the note from his hand and opened it carefully.
R,
Imagine my surprise when I went to pay Mary a visit only to see her staked to the wall. Is this Kol's way of telling me I'm next? I jester, I know you would never endanger my life, but I need to know what is going on. Expect me shortly.
-A
Rebekah turned ashen and Damon noticed this immediately. "Hey. What's going on?" he demanded. He got a quick look at the note only to have Rebekah crumple it instantly in her hands. She turned away, heading out the door leaving Damon to wonder what the hell that note meant.
"What's going on here?" Stefan asked as he walked into the living room, seeing his brother with Bonnie. She was looking over the weathered pages of the grimoire while Damon reclined on the couch, occasionally pestering her.
Damon looked up with a smirk, "We're talking about girl stuff. Shoo."
Stefan glared at his older brother, "Hey, Bonnie. Want something to drink?" he offered, politely.
She shook her head, "No thanks. Damon has me working on something and the sooner I'm done the better."
Damon pouted, "Aw, Judgey! Don't be like that, we were having fun." He winked and she merely ignored him.
Stefan sighed in exasperation, "Can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?"
Damon took a sip of his drink, "Long story short, I was at the bar with Rebekah, she got this mysterious note and instantly left looking she was going to be sick. I only caught one glimpse of the note and I'm trying to get the image out of mind using magic. It might be useful in getting Klaus out of Mystic Falls."
Stefan frowned in concentration, "What could have shaken her up so much? She hardly looks bothered."
"Exactly, this is something big. And I want to know what it is. Find anything yet, Bonnie?"
"Hold on." She muttered. "This might be something. This is a mind manipulation spell." She studied the book closer and her lips moved as she tried out the spell's words.
"Let's do it!" Damon cried. "What do we need?"
"Nothing, just my magic." Bonnie replied shortly. She sat on the couch across from Damon and motioned for him to bow his head down. He complied and she set her hands upon his raven hair and began chanting.
Stefan watched in interest and Damon began to groan in pain. "This better be worth all the juju." He muttered as his eyes squeezed shut in pain.
Bonnie's eyes fluttered open, "I see the note!" she cried out in surprise.
"Great. What does it say?" Damon bit out as the pain continued pulsing in his mind.
"Stefan, get me a piece of paper and pen." She demanded hastily. Stefan shot out of the room at vampire speed and came back holding her required items. Bonnie took the pen and her hand moved unconsciously across the paper as if she was in a trance. Her eyes were blank but furrowed in concentration as she tried to read into Damon's mind.
After a minute, Bonnie's hand stopped moving and the pain stopped in Damon's mind. He sat up and took another sip of his drink. "Ouch." He muttered, annoyed.
Bonnie's eyes snapped back to life and she held the piece of paper in her hand. "I think it worked." She said breathlessly. "It's addressed to somebody named R."
"Ooh! I got this one, Rebekah." Damon interrupted cheekily. Bonnie glared at him. "Oh don't mind me, go on witchy."
She cleared her throat and began to read, "Imagine my surprise when I went to pay Mary a visit only to see her staked to the wall. Is this Kol's way of telling me I'm next? I jester, I know you would never endanger my life, but I need to know what is going on. Expect me shortly." Bonnie looked up in confusion. "Mary? Is that the same Mary who you guys saw?"
Damon's eyes widened. "The note is referring to Scary Mary. She's the one that turned Rose, the one that got killed by Kol."
Stefan shot up, "Wait, the note said, 'Is this Kol's way of telling me I'm next'. Could this mean that this person turned Mary and thinks that the Originals are out to kill her?"
Bonnie shook her head, "No, the note implies that the Originals wouldn't kill her-or at least Rebekah wouldn't. But it does seem like she was the one that turned Mary. All this time we've been assuming that it was one of the Originals that turned her, but it could have been another Original groupie. This person signed the note with an 'A'. I'm guessing it's an initial."
"Well we need more to go off than an initial." Stefan replied grimly. "We need to find this person and find out who turned them. After we get that information, we're free to kill the remaining Originals."
Damon smirked, "I like the sound of an Original killing spree."
Rebekah stormed into the household with the note clenched in between her fingers. Aurelia was back. Klaus was going to find this amusing but Rebekah knew the potential pitfalls that would arise if Aurelia returned. There was the whole Elijah problem for one thing and the fact that Aurelia was the link to the Salvatores. If they found out, her safety was compromised.
She found Klaus painting on a half-finished canvas. He painted in leisure strokes and didn't bother to turn around when she came in. "We have a problem." She spat out.
"The Salvatores?" he smirked. "I told you Rebekah darling, they're nothing to worry about."
"No, no them. It's Aurelia." She replied in a flat voice.
Klaus froze for a second and then turned around with a small smile tugging at his lips. "Aurelia, haven't seen that girl in ages. What's the problem there? You should be happy, the two of you used to be best buds!"
Rebekah slammed down the note, "Damn it Nik! Have you forgotten that she turned Mary? And Elijah turned her? If she comes to Mystic Falls, our safety is gone!" she nearly screeched. "I am sick of this. Being an Original just guarantees my death. I can't live!"
Klaus's smile faltered and he came forward to soothe her, "Hush, Bekah. We'll be fine. We've always been fine; Aurelia won't cause trouble for us. You know how loyal she is, she would never compromise our safety. Especially since Elijah is coming to town soon, she'd never risk our lives."
Rebekah's eyes widened. "Elijah is coming?" she repeated. "Are you stupid?" her anger rose again.
Klaus's eyes twinkled. "Aw, come on. I figured a little lover's reunion was in order. It's not bad at all, love."
She pulled back sharply, "Mind your tongue. I'm not one of your blood bags. If Elijah returns before Aurelia we'll inform him of her coming but if Aurelia arrives first I'll try to calm her down. She won't be happy about this."
He held up his hands, "Alright, you've got it all figured out. See nothing to worry about. Just think of this as an old friend coming to visit us. The Salvatores won't figure a thing out."
Rebekah scowled and collected her purse, "Keep underestimating them and see where you end up. I guarantee it'll be someplace you won't like." She warned before stalking away in her 5-inch heels.
A/N: So I decided to take a break from all my anime fics and do a vampire diaries one, yay! I will be updating BOTWG soon, sorry y'all ! :) Anyways I hope you like the concept and subscribe and favorite and review please !