Anticipation thrums deep in my veins. I look down at my hands, my body. It's back, untouched, just as I remembered it. Wholly unaffected by my numerous years in purgatory.
I couldn't say the same for the land around me.
Gigantic buildings scraped against the picture-perfect blue sky, marking their territory in the clouds. I gaze in awe at the towering figures, casting the others around me as tiny ants against their enormous frames. Bright sunshine barely made its way past them, and I found myself standing in one of their shadows.
I am soon distracted by the people walking around me. By the numerous shoves I receive, I judge that most people here are in a great hurry. They walk so fast with their heads down and slim devices to their ears, talking even faster than they walk. Even their clothing is strange, tight and sharp and unfamiliar.
I suddenly reached out to stop a man who was wearing a suit looking ensemble, though it was of a material I hadn't seen before and of a style I didn't know. I had been gone a long time. I knew that time had passed while I had been held in-between heaven and hell, but was taking some time for me to re-acclimate.
"Excuse me, where are we?" I know how strange the question sounds, but I'm more preoccupied by the fact that I have found my voice, and it miraculously still works. The gives me a puzzled look. When he speaks, I can hear the warranted confusion in his voice.
"Chicago." Oh, this was my home. Where I was born. Where I was raised. Where I was whisked away by, by… him. Tears sting at my eyes. How quickly everything has changed. My home is barely recognizable.
"And the year?" I ask and he grows suspicious of me at this, not surprisingly. I'm sure I look like someone out of a horror book, and with even stranger questions. He puts careful space in-between us before answering.
"Uh, 2015. Miss, are you okay?" I just nod to his question before walking away from him. I had been stuck in purgatory for ninety three years. Was that even possible? How am I here? Why am I here?
I don't know how to go about finding him, all that I do know is that there is a deep urge in my bones that made me weak at the knees at the prospect of seeing him. Hearing his voice again, that alone is my incentive to keep moving in no particular direction.
It has been so long.
If my befuddled brain can count it correctly, or, rather, guess correctly it has been about thirty years since I had glimpsed into his life last. Thirty years is a long time.
Would he be different?
Had he found some else by now?
That thought, riding unbidden into my scattered thoughts, hurts too much to dwell on. I have no idea what I'll do if that is the case. Expire on the spot, most likely. I make my way slowly through crowds, mindlessly wandering. I recognize little to nothing about my home. Even the solid ground I walk on is unfamiliar.
Soon though, I find myself walking a familiar path somehow. The turns that I'm taking, I've taken before. In another lifetime. It takes a couple of minutes for me to realize where my feet have led me. When I look up and take in the emblazoned sign of my other home, I nearly sob with joy. It reads, in bold that hasn't aged a day, Gloria's.
I push open the door with renewed enthusiasm and walk inside the dimly lit room. Nothing important has changed much, and I sigh in relief. The now worn crème colored walls, small case windows, and battered wood floor, it's all here. It must be around midday as there are no patrons hovering in the usual spots, the bar almost completely empty.
"Excuse me, can I help you? We don't open until-" The woman that had emerged from the back suddenly stops speaking, staring at me in a fixed, particular way that I have only seen once in my life.
"Gloria? Is that you?" I falter as I take in her appearance. She hasn't changed very much either, just her hair and the little crinkles around her eyes. I wonder at this.
"Dear god, Caroline." She says and a breathtaking smile breaks across her face, and she quickly walks over to me to offer a hug. After a minute or so of her warm embrace she pulls away, looking me in the eyes.
"You are different." She says calculatingly and I nod with an almost childish attitude that makes me want to giggle. Only she was ever able to make me feel like the errant child that I was.
"Yes. I've kind of been locked up in purgatory for practically a century." Her eyebrows raise expectantly. We take a seat in one of her many booths before I try to explain what happened, the sacrifice that Rebekah had made, the apparition in my dreams. Her eyes have widened considerably by the time I finish.
"I know the spell that you've described, but I've only heard of it being successful twice. Well, three tie, now. Though, there is something else about you. Something you've not mentioned." She pauses, leaning in closer to me. "Do you feel odd?" She asks in a sceptic tone and I shrug.
"No, not really. Sore, maybe." I say warily and that's when she grips her hands to each side of my face and looks deep into my eyes. It's as creepy as it sounds, and seconds pass of this. I'm sure my confusion is plastered all over my face. Then, she leans away.
"You're in transition, honey." She says suddenly, dropping her hands from my face and giving me a strange look.
"Transition? Into what?"
"A vampire." She pauses as I gasp, and then continues. "I've heard of it before, mostly from the failures of the spell, that an after effect can be vampirism. It's from nature trying to balance the spell, each person then does technically die. And because the person normally doesn't find out, they die anyway, as nature wouldn't allow such a spell to exist without ramifications." The floor falls away from my feet, thank god I'm sitting down. I'm becoming… a vampire? I need to find him
"No, you need to drink first." I shake my head, apparently I said that bit aloud. She guides me outside, and down to the local shopping mart. She goes inside for a moment and then comes back with a middle aged man that seems to be completely out of it.
"Drunk. Won't feel a thing." She offers by way of explanation and I look uncertainly towards him. I can feel something inside of me beginning to rage, but my doubt lingers.
"Caroline, I will stop you before you kill him. Do it or you'll be dead and never even see Klaus." I burst into action at the mention of his name, I'll do this for him, to see him. I'd do anything for him. I pull the man forward, and that something inside roared and transformed within me. I feel power surge to my fingertips, and without even realizing it I'm drinking from him.
Moments later Gloria pulls me away, and the man staggers slightly, managing to sit on the ground without harm. I turn to leave the dark alleyway in which we are in, but Gloria pulls my arm to stop me.
"Here. I have one of these on hand at all times." She hands me a small ring, silver and simple in design. I look up to her in confusion.
"You'll need it, now that you're a vampire. To protect you from the sun, a daylight ring." I nod then in understanding and slip the ring onto my pinky.
We leave the alley way then, leaving the groaning man behind. I don't relish the feeling that fills me. We walk side by side on the side walk. I feel odd, without him, knowing that he's somewhere out there.
"Do you know where is his?" I ask anxiously and Gloria's eyes twinkle in amusement.
"It would be hard not to, honey." She answers sardonically, and I furrow my brow. What does that mean?
"Will you help me?"
"Absolutely."
-j-
Moments later I'm holding a map in my hand and walking away from Gloria's shrinking figure.
I'm headed for his company's building, apparently. I suppose this company is a major thing here in Chicago. Gloria has also made me change my outfit and I'm in garb that I don't even recognize. Gloria called them skinny jeans, which I understand as they're so darn tight. I'm also wearing a black top with heels, and a tan colored jacket thing.
With some help from the milling people around me I'm soon faced with a dark colored, towering building. It runs from the ground to the sky with floor to ceiling windows and I watch as people in business outfits stride in and out with determined looks.
I walk through the revolving doors, how strange that contraption is, and make my over to the attractive brunette at the large circular desk centered in the massive lobby. My heels click against the smooth, grey floor and I push my hair from shoulder.
"Hi, welcome to Mikaelson Enterprises. How may I help you?" The woman offers me a smile that was clearly made to dazzle and my mind races. Mikaelson Enterprises? I suppose he owns this building. I have no idea how I'm supposed to go about this.
"Yes, I'd like to see Klaus Mikaelson." I say nervously, shifting from foot to foot. It's the first time I've said his name in a long time, and my stomach flutters at the sound. The woman's eyebrows raised speculatively.
"Do you have an appointment?" She asks disbelievingly, albeit polite, and I furrow my eyebrows. An appointment? I need an appointment to see him?
"Uh, no, I don't have one." I say, unsure, and she bursts into sudden laughter. Apparently, I've been amusing to her. I frown.
"Well, he's booked for the next four weeks. You can call to schedule one." She says in a dismissive tone, already looking back to the machine in front of her. Gloria called it a computer, it looks like a robot. I square my shoulders, I know what needs to be done.
I tap lightly on the desk, making her look at me. Gloria has just taught me this, and I have seen him do it before. I pull on the hovering cloud in the back of my mind and I know my pupils are growing size, my voice dropping an octave as I speak.
"Tell me where his office is." I command and her pupils dilate in response the compulsion.
"Fifty first." She answers automatically and I nod, beginning to walk away. "Wait, you'll need this." She hands me a sleek business pas and I accept it.
I follow the crowd of people entering the elevator and push my way on board. My heart is pounding incessantly, unnecessarily as the elevator whisked us upwards.
It only took a couple of seconds before I was transported to the fifty first floor, but it was enough for the nerves to start attacking my motor skills. I stumble into another ultra-modern setting. I walk up to the desk set before a panel of tinted glass windows which hold a door. The door that leads to him, presumably. My heart beats just a little faster.
"Hi, I'm here to see Mr. Mikaelson." I say quietly, not wanting to disturb the calm peacefulness around me. The woman sitting there nods and stands, offering me something to eat or drink, but I decline. My nerves are too fried.
She walks to the door, me following her, and grandly pushes I t open. It takes me a second to adjust to the bright sunlight and my surroundings as she shuts the door behind me, softly. The office is gigantic, containing another wall of windows opposite me that hold impressive views of the city. Up so high, it looks beautiful. A desk too large for one man is centered in front of me and various couches and bookcases are scattered artfully around the room. I finally see him, in the corner, facing away from me and towards the windows. His back looks tense through his sleek suit and his quartz hair is the exact same as I remembered it; unruly and begging to be touched.
He still hasn't faced me and I shift my feet nervously, apprehension getting the better of my senses.
"I don't have an appointment scheduled." His voice suddenly crosses to me and I want to melt just at the sound of it. It's smooth, warm silk, wrapping around me. I'm suddenly aching. It has been way, way too long since I've heard him, seen him.
"Hi Klaus." I answer softly and he spins around so fast that as a human, I would have missed it. But my vison was able to catch it now and the gutting look of utter surprise and… terror? Couldn't be more clear on his devastatingly handsome face.
"When are you going to disappear this time?" He asks cuttingly and I furrow my eyebrows. He's never talked like that to me. Brisk, harsh, cruel. His stance remains guarded and powerful. His glare fills the room, leaving little for me to breathe.
"What are you talking about?" I take a step forward and confusion flashes across his features that I had missed so much. Too much. This was not how I pictured our reunion being.
"Ah, my little ghost has learned new lines. Clever." He says in an irritated tone and my minds spins to catch up with him. I hit it. He doesn't think I'm real.
"Klaus, no, it's me, actually me. It's Caroline." I say, my tone frightful. I am real, right? I cross the marble flooring to reach him. We stand now only inches apart and I swear I'm going to collapse if he doesn't touch me. His eyes are still narrowed.
"Not possible." He says, but his voice betrays his iron-clad words. Still hurt. "Caroline's dead." I don't miss the heartbreaking crack in his tone as he says my name.
"Not anymore." I shake my head, and reach my hand out to cup his jaw. He flinches. It takes a moment for his features to soften from the hard mask that I'm sure had been permanent for quite a few years.
"You're… real?" Suddenly his eyes are flooding with emotion at my touch. Tears again prick the back of my eyes as my fingers gently stroke his cheekbone, his jaw, through his slight stubble.
"Yes Klaus, I'm real." I lean forward a little more, trying to get him to kiss me, hold me, anything. It has been much too long.
"Prove it too me." He whispers and a small smile ghosts across my lips for a moment. I answer him in the most natural way I know, what I've been wanting, craving, needing, for ninety five years. I kissed him.
Author's Note:
No, I'm not dead. Just terrible at keeping up with my promises.
I'm aware that this is terribly short, but I'm not particularly good at dragging out endings. I'm considering writing an epilogue, if any of the readers that I have left want that, let me know. xx
So about a weak ago I received the craziest PM. I'm still a little in denial about it. Supposedly, Ascendancy of Her is up for an award of some kind. Is that even real? Someone please confirm or deny. I'm not sure. I may have dreamt that bit.
Anyway, I hope everyone is pleased with the ending and that it wrapped all of our little precious hearts into a nice little bow regarding the story. If it didn't, berate me, and I will endeavor to fix it. Feel free to ask any lingering questions.
As for me, I'm not sure if I will write another story. They're very time consuming. I have a few ideas up my sleeve, let me know if you'd be interested.
REVIEW PLEASE.
I love you all, and a big shoutout to all of the people who actually read my writing. It means more than I say in print, or words for the matter. I thank you all.
Best,
J.