Author's Note: Hey guys, here's the first chapter and I hope you like it :)
One:
~ Bulgaria 1492 ~
Dominika
Sitting on my bed, I stared out at the cloudy night sky as I heard Papa and Michael speaking in the next room and leaned back onto my pillows with a defeated sigh. Our village was meant to be gathering in the town square to celebrate the birth of my cousin, but I was reluctant to leave the house as I was fearful of what the other villagers will say. Ever since the death of my sister Svetelana seven years ago where we were attacked by an animal, the other villagers were convinced I used witchcraft to murder my sister and even after the hurtful lies were replaced by the actual story... the emotional scars were still fresh and I even refused to celebrate my fourteenth birthday last week.
Papa entered my room and gave me a small smile as he sat on my bed, brushing my long brown hair behind my ear. I loved Papa dearly and since Mama died, he had become both mother and father.
"Must I go, Papa?" I asked in a fearful voice, pulling my knees up to my chest and hugging them close to me "I cannot stand the accusing stares... even after all this time, they look at me like I am the guilty party."
"You are not and you cannot let something like this ruin you," Father said firmly, our eyes the same bright blue but I had inherited mother's looks and hair colour "you are my eldest daughter and in two years you will be married to one of the charming boys in this town, who will make you happy and the rest will be history."
Yes, that was another thing I was dreading. In our village when a girl becomes of age, she must marry who her father approves of and had no say in the matter. If I did marry, I wanted it to be for love and nothing else but I knew my wedding would feel more like I was being sold. I looked at father with doubt, not believing his words and just wanted to just stay in my bedroom for this evening.
"But Papa, I-"
"Dominika!" Nadya, my younger sister beamed with excitement as she rushed into the room wearing her best dress "do I look pretty?"
I couldn't help but smile as Nadya twirled in a circle, looking at her dress with pure happiness and delight.
"Yes, you look lovely," I said kindly, but Father simply stood up and turned to me sternly with little patience now.
"You will come tonight and you will enjoy yourself, do you understand?" Father told me seriously and my heart sank, knowing that my choice mattered little and I would have to attend the festivities tonight.
The night air had an unnatural chill as we walked closer to the brightly lit town square, but I kept my cloak wrapped securely around me and held Nadya's hand tightly as we entered the square and were surrounded by relatives. I mumbled greetings as aunts and uncles hugged me tightly, but my smile did not quite reach my eyes. Even my relatives suspected I was an evil witch summoning demons to kill my beloved sister and only my family believed me, but now only when the rumours were proven false were they showing love and affection for their niece. I knew how hypocritical this all was and I quickly excused myself to sit on the bench near the camp fire, watching Nayda dancing with the other children as the festive music began with a lively beat. I felt out of place, like I did not belong here and I cast my eyes over the many people who had come to celebrate the birth of my aunt's seventh son - the seventh son is said to bring good luck and happiness to his family and this was cause for celebration. Father left me with his hunting dog Luka, but the animal was the most gentle animal I'd ever seen and he simply curled up on my lap for a nap. I gently stroked his brown fur as Father began drinking with his friends and Michael sneaked off with a local young woman with a sly grin on his face.
As the hours past and my body was begging for sleep, Luka's head suddenly shot up and he whined fearfully before bolting into the forest. No! I cannot lose Luka, Father would never forgive me!"
"Luka!" I called, jumping to my feet and rushing after the dog. The trees were thick and it was difficult to see my own hand amidst the sinister darkness, but I trudged through the forest in my search. But Luka was no where in sight and fear began to consume me as I was surrounded by nothing but silence "Luka, come here!"
That was when I heard it... the terrifying screaming. My heart jumped into my throat, my fear making me unable to move a muscle and yet I couldn't ignore the screams of men women and children... Papa... Michael... Nadya. I'd heard that horrifying sound before and for years I had tried to convince myself that it was an animal, but I knew better...
"NO!"
My feet moved me as fast as I could back to the clearing, willing myself to move faster and prevent history from repeating itself again. I couldn't lose anymore family, I simply couldn't!
Nothing could have prepared me for the scene of devastation that awaited me in the town square, which brought my feet to a terrifying halt. The people that were joyfully celebrating a few moments before were now lying slaughtered and bloody, their lifeless eyes staring up at the night sky with deep bite marks in their necks that were seeping with blood. My eyes filled with tears as I looked at the scene of death and destruction, my eyes falling on a small blonde girl and my heart broke looking at my lifeless younger sister.
"No..." I breathed, the tears falling down my face as I rushed to Nayda and dropped to my knees, pulling the small girl into my eyes "No, no, no Nayda!"
I cradled her in my arms as I sobbed brokenly, seeing my father and brother lying feet away with their throats bleeding and their eyes glassy and unmoving. My family was lying dead before me and I was alone in the world, my cries didn't stop as I held Nayda protectively against my chest and thought I could somehow revive my sister if I kept her in my arms.
A figure approached, lowering her hood to reveal a beautiful young woman with perfect olive skin, dark brown eyes and darker brown hair that fell in curls to her shoulders.
"Get away! I yelled fearfully, but the woman kept on walking towards me with her eyes filled with concern as she crouched beside me "leave!"
"I'm not going to hurt you, dear." the woman that could be no older than eighteen said gently, putting a hand reassuring on my shoulder "what is your name?"
"Dominika..." I breathed tearfully.
"I'm Katerina," Katerina said softly, taking hold of my hand "come, we must leave."
"No!" I said shakily, but Katerina pulled me to my feet with unnatural strength and looked around fearfully.
"KATERINA!" a man's voice yelled from somewhere nearby, which made Katerina stand protectively in front of me and a new fear filled my chest "come out, sweetheart!"
Katerina turned to me, grasping my shoulders and looking at me seriously.
"We need to run, we can't stay here!" Katerina told me in a hushed voice, the urgency in her voice "I know you don't know me, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
I only had two opinions: stay and face an unknown danger or trust a complete stranger and hopefully be taken to safety. I wiped my eyes and nodded feebly and Katerina scooped me into her arms, sprinting off into the dark forest. The night air soared past me and made me feel like I was flying, stopping after seconds in front of a grey mare on a country lane and Katerina quickly helped me mount the horse before climbing up in front of me and taking the reins.
What happened? How did that just happened?! My mind was racing with a thousand thoughts.
"What was that?" I demanded as Katerina kicked the house into a fast gallop and I wrapped my arms around her waist to ensure I stayed on the horse.
"It's a long story," Katerina said "ever heard of vampires?"
~ New Orleans 1864 ~
I sat back into the carriage seat, looking out at the passing country lanes on this beautiful summer's day. A lot has changed since I was the scared young girl that Katherine rescued from Klaus. I was now a strong and independent woman and a vampire, but my life hasn't been easy. Katherine adopted me and became like a sister to me as we moved from place to place, but Katherine was forced to turn me when I was seventeen and was nearly murdered by one of Klaus's henchmen. Katherine and I were staying in a small inn in Paris when Klaus's vampire found us, but Katherine wasn't with me and he began beating me for information.
I wouldn't give away where my friend was, but on the point of death Katherine rushed into the room and snapped the vampire's neck and cured me with vampire blood before my best friend turned me.
For years we travelled the world and I learnt English as well as several other languages and this was the first time in years we were going our separate ways. While Katherine was moving to Mystic Falls in Virginia with Emily, Pearl and Anna, I was heading to New Orleans to start my own new adventure.
As the carriage pulled into the beautiful city, the driver opened the door for me and aided me down the steps.
"Thank you," I said politely, but my attention was drawn to the handsome dark-skinned man with a muscular build and dark brown eyes. The man was dressed in the best tailored suit I had ever seen and the man gave me a courteous bow as he approached me, a small smile on his lips.
"Welcome to New Orleans, Miss Konstantinova" the handsome man said gently, extending his hand for me to take "I'm Marcel and it is an honour to welcome you to my kingdom."
I offered my hand to Marcel, unable to prevent myself from smiling as he took my hand and brushed his lips against it in a gentle kiss.
"Please, call me Dominika." I said with a genuine smile as Marcel bowed his head respectively with his charming smile.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it, also make sure to leave a review to let me know what you think :)
The next chapter will be set in the present in Baldock in England (IMPORTANT NOTE: Baldock is a real town in Hertfordshire in England, but as I have never been there I'm going to mix facts of the town with fiction to fit the story) and the other Original Characters will be introduced.
Below is the current cast list of main characters:
Original Characters for Immortality
Shailene Murphy (human/doppelganger) and Dominika Konstantinova (vampire/doppelganger) - by Cirque de Morte
Mary 'Bloody Mary' Mclellan (vampire) - by hey-don't-mind-us
Rosalia di Palermo (vampire) - by TheNightGirl
Hanna Webb (vampire) - by missfervent
Luther West (vampire) - by ShadyLP
Owen Chambers (werewolf) - by Munamana
Tyson Blake (werewolf) - by Blondie45
Joshua Shapiro (human) - by BabyGleeFan11
Emmanuel Richards (warlock) - by T.J. Ryan 94 (as much as I wanted to avoid including my OC as a main character, I had no witches or warlocks for this fic)
Other characters that will play important roles in this story are the canon characters from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals (mainly: Stefan, Klaus, Katherine, Marcel, Elijah, Silas, Amara and Damon with others making appearances or being mentioned) and OCs (characters from the OC submission forms and my own OCs).
Thanks again to everyone who entered their OCs, it was really hard to choose between them and I'm sorry I couldn't include all the OCs - but I might include some OCs for small parts in this story.
I'm really looking forward to writing this story for you guys and Chapter 2 will hopefully be up soon.
