Chapter 10: Consequences be damned

Elle felt as though she had been the one murdered, or at least she felt it inside. She had never known such despair, such emptiness, such loss of comfort. She couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep, and she felt dead to the world around her as it passed by, leaving her stuck behind in the past.

For what seemed like the hundredth time this morning, the Lord Niklaus appeared in the doorway of his bedroom. Personally, she would have wanted to be left alone to grieve, but it seemed he didn't trust, or think her well enough, to be left alone. He walked up to her, taking a seat beside her on the edge of his bed. "Are you going to consume anything?"

Numbly, Elle shook her head slightly. "No," she whispered and he sighed, seeming none too pleased with her answer. "Our maid has prepared attire other than your nightgown for you since your previous attire was beyond repair. I found something in your home, something I believe your mother wished you to have." He added, reaching into his tunic and pulling our a yellowed with age envelope.

That caught her attention and she took it from him without hesitation, seeing it was indeed addressed to her. She tore it open immediately, eyes wide as she began to read, ever so grateful that she had bothered to learn to read at all when most women her age couldn't or hadn't bothered to learn whatsoever.

Elle,

I fear I have not been wholly honest with you throughout the course of your short yet wonderful life. I raised you as my daughter, and I am forever proud to have called you such. You have made me prouder than any mother could have ever been, where, in fact, I was never your true mother by blood.

Our journey together began long ago, when you were just a babe. I was a young nurse caring for the firstborn child, the daughter, of a powerful nobleman and his wife. I was there when a man came, demanding to know the whereabouts of his children who were anything but human as was the father. He threatened the life of the child I was caring for, and to spare the life of their child, the nobleman and his wife shared sacred information, not knowing the consequences which would follow.

The child was a little less than a month when the children of that man returned. They sought revenge for having their peace and tranquillity ruined, and as the Lady Amelia returned from having placed her daughter Ellevira in her cradle for her sleep, she was murdered by those monsters as her husband and their company also met their fates.

I had been warned beforehand of what I had to do. I took Ellevira from her cradle, and when a demon came to kill her, I killed him first. I ran with my charge, and I cared for her with the aid of a woman named Marie until both she and her young son passed from a common sickness that was passing through the village.

That child I saved was you, my sweet child. Your name isn't Elle Andrewson as I raised you to be, as I raised you to be my daughter, and although nature has deemed you to be mine in every way but blood, you are Ellevira Kilgrant, daughter to the Lord Henry and the Lady Amelia, and a young woman with dangers lurking at her every moment of life.

I know I am not here if you are reading this, and for that, I truly am sorry. Whatever has made it so I am not there to share your wonderful life with you, you must prevail. I raised a beautiful, intelligent young woman who I knew would overcome all that was thrown at her, so even though I know that this is a lot for you to understand and whatever age this arrives to you now, I know you can be brave and face the challenges life throws at you.

Love your mother of all intents and purposes,
Helena

Tears streamed down her face. "So now I have lived a life that has been an entire lie? You asked me about an Ellevira," she gasped out, the pain in her chest, in her heart becoming too much to bear. Klaus pulled her to his chest as her sobs choked her lungs. "And now I know not who I am, for my name is not even my real name," she choked out the words as though it clogged her insides up to speak them.

He hummed, a hand smoothing over her matted hair gently, a gentleness he even thought himself not capable of. "Perhaps, but Elle could be a shortened version of your full name, could it not? Elle could be a name used by those who know you, as Nik is mine reserved for family. Unless, of course, you would prefer Ellevira?"

Elle shook her head, her eyes still streaming tears. "No," she whispered, her hand falling over the one of his that resided on her arm. Watery blue eyes met his own. "I may have been born into nobility, but I was not raised in it. I was raised by my mother who mightn't of been my mother through blood, but she was my mother. She nurtured me, nursed me when I grew ill with fever, and she told me the exact tale of my life in the form of a bedtime story as a child. She protected me until now, and now I know who I am to be afraid of."

Klaus nodded, pulling her back to him. "I understand, love, I truly do. You are safe here -none shall harm you. Are you going to consume anything now? Your mother would not want you to suffer, at least eat a small meal in the least." He attempted.

With a saddened look in her eyes, Elle shook her head. "I am not ailing of hunger, but when I am, I will come find you, but now, I wish to be left to grieve for a little while, so please, let me grieve until I come find you." She whispered, and to her surprise, with a kiss to her forehead, he did so and left her be.

MvM

It was a long while until she felt the stirrings of hunger deep in her belly, and even longer before she felt comfortable enough to leave the room. She knew how awful she looked -a fleeting glance in that long mirror had told her more than enough with her dark circles and matted raven black hair that was no longer retaining its normal shininess and silkiness.

Elle wandered down the hallways she knew led to where he no doubt was, or where someone was, but she stopped as angered sounding voices reached her as she stood on the stairs, listening in on the conversation that seemed to be taking place, and with bated breath, she heard her name mentioned.

MvM

"You wish for me to kill her, even after I admitted I care for her?!" Klaus raged at his younger brother, who simply nodded as he reclined back, his feet upon the furniture, much to the annoyance of both Elijah and Rebekah. Klaus started forward but Elijah held a hand out. "We did swear to murder her family, Niklaus, something we have done. She has no one left."

"And had I of known who she was, I would have rid myself of her before I developed feelings for her, brother." Klaus spat back and Rebekah sighed from her position on the chaise beside her eldest brother. "The girl hasn't eaten since you brought her here, Nik. Perhaps she longs for death, and she did just discover her entire life has been a lie. Perhaps this would be a mercy killing." She stated quietly.

A soft snarl tore from his mouth at that. "And to put her down like a lame foal would be worse? I will not harm her, and neither will all of you, lest you wish to have a dagger in your hearts as a fair return. Elle is untouchable, and off limits. I do not wish her dead, and her mother, and her actual parents are the ones who paid their debt for their indiscretions." He seethed through gritted teeth, a choked sound making him turn and look towards the door, his own blue eyes widening in horror as the eavesdropper to their conversation turned and fled up the stairs that she had been huddled up on.

"Do you wish for her to live now knowing that she knows what you have done?" Rebekah stated as she looked between her brothers, and Klaus gave her a furious stare before using his normal speed to go after the human girl who was at the centre of their discussion.

MvM

Elle rushed down the hallways that seemed endless, her eyes wide. How could that be? He would have been but a child, a young boy if he murdered her true parents. And then she remembered the letter her mother had written for her, one she had read only hours beforehand, and how her mother had stated that these "people", if they could be called that, were not human. She had described them as demons, and she had laid down and given herself to the very man responsible for all her unknown anguish over the years.

She could hear him behind her. His heavy footfall was not one to be mistaken for another sound, and she wondered if this was what her mother, and blood mother, had felt like all those years ago. It was terrifying. She knew from the words she had heard exchanged that he hadn't wanted to harm her unlike his apparent "siblings" had done so, but that was because she had loved him, loved him, and he had been developing, or had supposedly developed feelings for her. Would those feelings now stand true if she despised him for ruining her life before she even had such a chance to walk or even utter her first word?

What was her life now? She had lowered herself in the worst kind of way. She had given herself in the most intimate kind of manner to a murderer, to a sinner, to a brutal, cruel man who had been behind everything -her mothers fear, the death of her blood parents, and now the death of the only mother she had ever been gracious enough to know. Her mother hadn't had to of stayed beside her. She could have left her to fend for herself, and yet she didn't. She remained beside her, cared for her, nurtured her, nursed her when she grew ill.

And now she had tainted her memory by sharing a bed with her murderer of all people...

Elle stumbled to a stop as her escape ran short in the form of an open window, and with wide, glassed over eyes, she clambered up onto it, swinging her legs out of it just as he rounded the corner. "You monster," she gasped out, those tears now streaming thick and fast down her cheeks, clouding her vision.

He made to take a step forward, but she shook her head. "You come closer and I jump from this window." She warned, relieved when he ceased moving. It was strange to see a certain rawness in his eyes, as though the sight of her sitting so close to danger spawned unknown feelings within him that he hadn't been on the feeling end of for years.

"Elle, love, you don't need to do that." He attempted and she scoffed bitterly. "I laid with the man who murdered my loved ones, who returned to me in his bed after he participated in the murder of the only mother I had ever known as though nothing had ever happened. I feel disgusting inside, tainted, ruined even. She warned me about the monsters that lurked outside our doors and windows, but I did not know they looked like the average person or I would never, ever of even bothered talking to you in the beginning had I known that I would feel as I do now. Do you have even the slightest idea in how I feel?"

He looked as though she had stabbed him inside numerous times with those words she had uttered. "Elle," he attempted again, forgetting what she had promised to do. Elle shook her head. "No, Klaus, no." She whispered, eyes falling to the ground that was a good twenty feet below her before she closed her eyes, and to his horror, moved forward and disappeared in a rush of air, a dull thud echoing afterwards.

MvM

She looked dead when he appeared downstairs after using his immortal speed to reach her. Her legs were crumpled beneath her, but the faint heartbeat he could hear told him otherwise. He rushed over to her, blood trickling down her face from the large wound on the side of her head. Her spine was broken, that much he was sure of from the sickening way in which she was bent.

Elijah appeared in the doorway first and he walked over a leisurely pace of his own making, watching as his younger brother bit into his flesh and then placed the open wound over the young girls mouth. Blood trickled in and it was then that he sighed. "Brother, let her die, and let this end with her. She wishes for death, so let her have it." He attempted to reason.

But his brother ignored him, not moving until he was certain some of his blood hand entered her system, even if it was a little but enough to heal her on the inside. Sliding his arms under her, he stood easily, walking but pausing as he passed Elijah. "You claim to seek my redemption for all the atrocities I have committed, brother, you claim that I am not without hope."

His brother remained silent, letting him speak. "We swore to murder her along with her treacherous family, and yet she survived as we did all those years ago. Perhaps this is the universes way of allowing us a chance, all of us a chance. Love is a weakness, yes, but is it in all circumstances? Rebekah offers her heart out to every man who offers her a smile -that love is foolish, and that is weak. But the complete and utter devotion to another where you would do almost anything for them? Is that so wrong in which she must die because of what those she hardly knows did, and to save her apparently according to the farewell letter from the witch."

Elijah sighed, rubbing at his brow delicately. "This will not end well, brother, and I, not will Kol or Rebekah, be picking up the pieces of this one this time." He stated wearily and Klaus hummed, moving to walk past him. "We shall see, Elijah, we shall see."