If not for Tatia, I would spend most of my time with Rebekah and Klaus. I adore Rebekah and her sweet and fun nature. She is passionate and bold, like I can never dream of being. Where she stumbles face first into love and lets herself take it over completely, I am cautious and protective of my own heart. Knowing that I will never have the affection of the man I care so deeply for, I spare myself from the heartbreak by avoiding him as much as possible. Even though it hurts, I feel like it works.
Where Rebekah is romantic and a dreamer at heart, Klaus is lively and adventurous. He has an imagination so wide I never grow bored of his stories, and on better nights around the fire pit, I love to listen to the stories he makes up. He uses different voices for the characters and never fails to build up the tension. Had I been allowed to participate in sword fighting, I would have asked him to teach me, but my mother would never approve.
For some reason, after what happened to Henrik, I feel like everything is different now. Klaus is still the same; the way he walks next to me, his eyes are as blue as they were before, the top of my head still reaches his shoulders, but his presence is different. Something is off and I can't put my finger on it. Maybe I'm just imagining it, maybe it's because I haven't seen him for a while.
''So, you and your siblings have been ill, I understand?'' I ask him as we walk along the border of our village and the woods. He nods in response, his hands behind his back and a smile resting on his face.
''Unfortunately, but we have fully recovered. My mother told me you came by to look for us,'' he replies.
''I did,'' I say with a nod, ''I am glad you have made a full recovery.''
The conversation feels forced and unnatural and I suddenly feel a somewhat anxious feeling settle in my stomach. What if things have changed so drastically after what happened, that our friendship wouldn't be the same anymore? I couldn't bear to think that I would lose one of my friends, especially not now that Tatia was still missing—
''Do you know anything about Tatia's whereabouts?'' I ask him quickly, looking up at him with hope in my eyes. I see him clench his jaw, which leads me to believe that he actually has, even though I was only going on a whim.
''No.''
I blink, not having expected that answer. ''You…have not seen her anywhere? She has been missing ever since you and your siblings fell ill,'' I explain. I don't believe him when he shakes his head.
''I see…'' I say as distrust settles in my mind. Something has most definitely changed about Niklaus, and I fear that we will never be the friends that we used to be.
''What of Elijah, he surely must know where she is,'' I continue as it suddenly comes to mind that he especially would want to get to the bottom of this.
''What is it with your fascination for my brother?'' Klaus asks harshly, catching me slightly off guard.
''I…asked about Tatia,'' I start, but he stops me by grabbing my arm. His grip is firm and hurts slightly, and I try to pull my arm free.
''You are hurting me—''
''Do not avoid my question. What is so special about Elijah that makes every woman fall at his feet, what qualities does he have that I do not possess?''
His eyes are locked on mine, and I roughly pull my arm back. He releases me, but we remain staring at each other.
''Well first of all, he does not grab a woman like that,'' I spit back, and Klaus purses his lips slightly in frustration. ''What has gotten into you?'' I continue, not used to this behavior of Klaus at all.
''Perhaps I am surprised by the utterly pointless feelings you still have for my brother after he has clearly shown his preference for someone else,'' he replies, and by his expression I can tell that he knows he struck a nerve. I feel anger bubbling up in my stomach and I raise my hand to strike him across the cheek, but he grabs my wrist before I can. I raise my other hand, but he grabs that wrist as well, then pushes me harshly against the tree behind me. I wince, my shoulder brushing by the bark of the tree harshly and I can feel that it left a nasty scratch, but I don't focus on that.
''Klaus, let go of me!'' I demand, anger in my eyes. He has never acted like this before and his entire demeanor has taken me by surprise.
''You do not command me,'' he says in a low, threatening voice, his eyes staring into mine, and even though I want to yell at him, to tell him to let go of me again, my breath catches in my throat and I can't bring myself to say it.
His gaze shifts from my eyes to my shoulder and my eyes grow wide as I see ill looking veins appear around his eyes, and the whites of his eyes become bloodshot.
''K-Klaus,'' I stammer, not sure if I am hallucinating or not. ''Your eyes…''
He ignores me and leans down to my neck, inhaling my scent. ''You frighten me…' I whisper in a plea to make him stop. I cry out when I feel something pierce my neck harshly—did he just bite me?!
I scream and Klaus pulls back, his mouth and chin stained with my dark red blood. He presses his hand against my mouth to muffle my scream, then dives back in and continues to drink. I can feel adrenaline rushing through my body and my heart pounds in my ears, and I know that trying to get out of his grip is impossible—he is much too strong. Out of desperation I do the only thing I can think of doing: I bite in his hand. My teeth pierce his skin and I taste the metallic substance on my tongue. It almost makes me gag, but thankfully it did the trick. He lets me go, momentarily startled by what I did, and I take the chance to run away as fast as I can. Perhaps if I run fast enough without looking back I—
Klaus appears in front of me and I collide with him hard. He puts his hands on either side of my head and looks into my eyes. I have never seen so much anger inside of him, and I suddenly fear for my life.
''That was not wise,'' he tells me, then twists my head to the side.
The ground feels cold under my damp dress and I immediately feel like everything around me is out of place. I hear leaves rustling right next to my ear, but when I open my eyes there is nothing near me to be seen. An owl hoots in the distance, yet it might as well be sitting on my shoulder, it sounds that loud. I sit up and despite the pitch black darkness around me, I can actually see where I am. I am still in the spot where Klaus and I had been before I blacked out. There is no sign of Klaus anywhere—he must have gone back to the village by now, and God—Klaus! I bring my hand up to my neck and feel my own dried blood on my neck, but no trace of a wound anywhere. It doesn't hurt anymore either. I shake my head a little in confusion and sit up. It must be the middle of the night by now.
I get up on my feet and start walking back to the village, but I slowly come to a halt again. Klaus had bit me. He had drunk my blood. He had knocked me out. His eyes had not been his own, he looked possessed. He had looked a demon, something had taken over him and quite possibly the rest of his family too. I stand there, momentarily in panic, unsure of what to do. After a minute or so, I start walking again. I need to make sure my family is okay, I have to. What if he attacks them too, what if he kills one of them, why am I so hungry?!
That is when I smell it. I have never smelt anything so appetizing before. It hung warm, thick and salty in the air. I follow the smell, my mouth salivating, and stop when I reach a little cottage I don't recognize. It isn't a part of our village and I don't think I've ever been this far into the woods. I approach the cottage, unable to resist the smell, and look through the window. A man sits on a stool, his chest bare and a wound in his shoulder. A woman stands behind him and cleans the wound gently with a damp cloth. I fixate on the redness and it is all I can focus on. I manage to tear my gaze away from the sight, but only to walk to the door and open it. The man and woman look up, clearly startled by my sudden entrance, and before either of them can do anything, I bare my teeth and hiss. I leap forward and tackle the man to the ground. I sink my teeth into the wound and fresh blood pours out, filling my mouth. The man screams in pain and the woman in fear, and they both try to fight me off. I kick away the woman, hitting her in her stomach, and she stumbled back and falls to the ground. I have the man pinned to the ground as I drink, unable to stop myself. It tastes like the absolute best delicacy in the world and I don't notice that the man has stopped moving until his blood flow stops and I have drank most of his blood.
I get to my feet again and look down at the sight before me. My hunger slowly drifts away, making place for realization. What have I done…?
''Nik, you have to feed.''
Rebekah's voice is soft and caring as she holds out a cup for him. He takes the cup from her but doesn't drink the blood. He stares ahead, as he has done ever since he got back from that stroll in the woods.
''She is right, Niklaus. You cannot keep blaming yourself for what happened,'' Elijah adds calmly. Oh how wrong they are.
''She is dead. She died because of me,'' Klaus says, barely audible.
''That is not true, Klaus. Her death was not your fault, nor was Henrik's. You are lucky you got away yourself—''
''Nonsense, sister. They cannot harm us anymore. I should have protected her.''
If he hadn't known better, he would have believed his own lies. How could he tell his siblings that he killed her? He hadn't even recognized himself, he hardly remembered what happened at all. But the feeling of snapping her neck, the sound of her lifeless body falling to the ground—he would never forget that. He had taken the easy way out, he knew that. To blame it on the wolves, nobody was going to question that. It was something he'd have to live with for the rest of his now immortal life.
''Please brother, drink. Before you lose control and draw even more attention to yourself and us.'' Klaus knows his brother is right and drinks the blood in his cup. He tries to focus on anything but his thoughts of last night, as he would surely start crying and breaking things out of rage and regret if he let himself. The girl he never realized he cared so deeply for, the less obvious choice next to the stunning beauty of Tatia. The girl he now longs for like he never longed for anyone before. And he had killed her.
I sit, my back against the cold stone of the back of the cave, and I wait. I don't know how many hours of the day there are left, but I am safe here. After killing the man I knew I couldn't go back to the village. I can't risk killing one of my siblings or parents, and besides, walking around during the day causes so much agony to my skin that I can't bear going outside except during nightfall. So I wait out my days, hidden in the shadows, and go out at night, looking for blood and exploring the world that had always been forbidden territory.
I find myself wishing that I had someone with me, anyone, to help me understand what is happening. Why I crave blood, why I can't let sunlight touch me, why I heal immediately after getting hurt. I'm not a witch, so where is all this magic coming from? I wish Klaus was here so I could ask him, he is after all the one who must have done this to me. The bite, it must have been the bite. But even he was able to walk around in the sunlight, so perhaps it was different for him.
I have to make sense of it myself, find out what is happening to me on my own. I am alone.
Thank you everyone who has commented and left sweet reviews! To the person who said something along the lines of ''your OC is such an idiot, she runs off every time Elijah talks to her''; I completely agree with you, and thankfully that leaves nice big opportunities for character development. But: if you don't like how it's written, please save yourself the trouble of reading and reviewing, because it's only a waste of your own time. Constructive criticism however, is more than welcome! Until next chapter.