A/N Hey, everyone! Another story being posted, yes. This has been a draft or so for a year or two, so I thought I may as well just post it. It was a side project while I was trying to reclaim my muse so i've written a few scattered chapters here and there.

Hollow Crown

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Well, she wore you like silk, bandaged all around
The scars of your love became your hollow crown

And she held you through the night, and kissed you through the cold
Blinded by your light, just waiting to grow old

She said, 'love, I'd give you everything, i'd give you everything that you need
Oh, love, well i'd do anything, and i'd do anything to be seen'

So when you packed all of your bags and left without a word
Well, the voices in her head were begging to be heard

So she wept all through the night and slept all through the day
'Cause her lonely, lonely heart was caught in every trap you laid

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"It isn't possible to love and part. You will wish that it was.

You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you.

I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal."

— E.M. Forster, A Room with a View

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HUELVA, SPAIN—1578

"STOP IT!"

Delilah rushed into the tension ridden hut, the screams that had been echoing throughout becoming more ear-piercing now that she was up close. She almost lost her footing as she looked down to see her eldest brother pinned to the ground, their father being the reason he was being restrained. Claude kept his son down with his knee that was pressed to his eldest son's throat, and his bloody knuckles were inches away from Eric's beaten and bruised face.

The siblings feared their father's den, it was where he committed his abusive atrocities. It was where he would beat his wife then, years later it was where he beat Eric until he was a bloody mess then his daughter and Jaime was soon to follow. He hated spilling blood in his home and would make his children walk to his den. They'd counted how many steps it was and always took the deepest breath on the twelfth.

"You're hurting him!"

Her eyes grew wide in alarm as her father reared back his fist in order to land the punch harsher. Delilah raised her voice as loud as she could, her screaming making her father pause.

"STOP!"

Claude slowly raised his head, fist tightening as his eyes landed on his daughter, glancing at the knife in her hand with a deep frown. He looked utterly insulted.

"Leave him be!"Delilah shouted, growing more frustrated as her father remained in his position and she bravely took a step closer, knife in clear view."I said leave him alone!"

"What is this foolishness?!"Claude demanded as he got to his feet, not even bothering to wipe his son's blood from his knuckles.

"Sister, it's all right."Eric, her eldest brother, wiped at his bloody mouth. He was panting for air as he got up onto his knees."Just leave, it'll be over soon."

She could hear the pleading in his voice laced with exhaustion and fear. Delilah felt a pang in her chest as she boldly refused.

"No, I will not let him do this to us anymore."Delilah shook her head; tone determined as she ventured further into the den. She glanced at her second eldest brother, Jaime, who was huddled in the corner."I refuse."

Claude bared his teeth at his daughter, stepping over Eric, sauntering closer to his daughter who instantly took a step away.

"I refuse to indulge in your childish games."Claude held out a hand, beckoning with his fingers."Hand the knife over."

"I'm tired of this. This is not how a family is supposed to act."Delilah cried out, pointing the knife at her father with more courage as her anger grew."We cannot breathe without you finding some flaw in us that i'm sure doesn't exist, you only do this because you relish in us fearing you."

"Stop this nonsense, little girl."Her father stood tall, not an ounce of fear in his eyes. His eyes were hollow. They were always hollow."Stand down."

He took a step forward but immediately came to an abrupt stop when his daughter brandished the knife again.

"Do you believe that a simple little blade can stop me from getting to you?"Her father let out a hearty laugh. He took a step closer and, boldly enough, she imitated him."Look at you; you're shaking! You are terrified."

"Yes, i'm terrified of you, and yet you laugh. You laugh at my fear of you, and that is what makes you a monster."

Confidence growing, Delilah was unable to bite back her harsh and sardonic words."You force us to travel from plcte to place whenever you grow bored, whenever you create enemies and are too much of a coward to face them. You make us trek for days with no care that we settle. Whenever we find a home, you take it from us simply because you grow bored."

Knuckles pale white because of how tight she gripped her weapon, Delilah resolutely sneered at her father, unable to stop the words spilling from her mouth. She couldn't help it, she'd bottled them up from years and now she couldn't hold them back.

"You have done nothing but torture myself and my brothers from the moment we each came into this word and for what? So you can feel powerful?"

The glimmer of humiliation in her father's clouded eyes, which only proved her words, made the young woman feel a tiny bit powerful.

"So that you have someone weaker than you to prey on..."Her nervously bitten lips twitched up into a ghost of a smile."because you are too frightened to go toe to toe with someone as ferocious as you?"

Claude's jaw tightened and he pointed at his daughter warningly."Bite your tongue, or I will extract it from your insolent mouth."

"If you can reach me, then you may, but you will always know what I think of you."Her eyes glassed over when her father gave no reaction. The rage in his eyes was merely due to her defiance."You are a coward!"

Claude's fist shot out, and he punched at the air, arms flailing around. The vein in his forehead throbbed, his teeth bared and his jaw clenched.

"STAND DOWN!"

She whimpered at his raised voice, but she still held onto the thread she dangled from. Years of her father's verbal and physical abuse had built up a rage inside of her heart that had spilled out in recent years. He had become harsher and cold with each day that passed, and she was at a loss as to why he took it out on them.

"I will not!"She shook her head, forcing the confidence back into her tone as her father's dark eyes."If I do you will simply beat me and I cannot take it anymore. I will not take it anymore."

Darkly laughing, Claude shifted from foot to foot, wearing a sadistic expression that made his daughter's blood run cold.

"I am your family and, as head of this family I decide when you wake, when you sleep, when you eat, when you talk and if you do not stand down, I will determine whether you will be breathing or not by the end of day."

Jaime flinched at the threat, his eyes glassing over. He rubbed his dirty palms into his eyes, teeth chattering with fear.

"Or perhaps I will just cut your tongue out, carry out my threat."Her father said, a sinister smile curving at his mouth."Save your future husband the annoyance of your constant yammering."

Wincing as if he'd slapped her, Delilah swallowed the sob that itched at her throat as her father carried on laughing.

"Your mother was overjoyed when you were born. She'd sought for a daughter through two pregnancies, a little girl to call her own. I allowed her to name you Delilah because the smile she gave, the tears she cried—tears of happiness—were delightful!"

Claude yelled at the top of his voice, the bellowing sound making Delilah's heart fall to her stomach. She caught Jaime and Eric flinching at the mention of their mother.

"But, alas, you've not lived up to your name, child. I am quite pleased she never lived long enough to see what you have become."Claude scanned his fearful daughter from head to toe, lip curling into a snarl."I sometimes believe she died of the shame."

"You are wrong."Delilah hissed through gritted teeth, biting the inside of her cheek to stop the tears."The abuse you inflicted upon her was what killed her."

Claude let out an enraged snarl, moving forward only be stopped when Eric and Jaime stepped in front of him. He pulled back, eyes now on his sons now blocking him from his daughter. The pair looked ready to fight if need be but, as their father stared at them, they averted their eyes from him.

"Pathetic, you are all pathetic."Claude spat, sweeping a hand at his sons with a ridiculing chuckle."You stand and watch a girl, your little sister stand against me? You are not men; you are little boys. Weak sycophants to a little girl who, in spite holding a weapon that could wound me, shakes like a leaf in the wind. You are not a man if you cannot keep your women, your brood, and your home in order!"

Jaime and Eric kept their eyes on the ground but showed no sign of moving. They remained standing in front of their sister, blocking her from Claude's hands and eyes.

"You defend her, the both of you, yet your fear of me overrules your need to follow through on the promises of protecting one another."Claude hissed out, a hand suddenly reaching out for Jaime."And you! I think of your brother pathetic but you...you stand behind him and your sister like the little boy you are."

Jaime breathed out a terrified whimper in the face of his father. Jaime was a gentle soul who wouldn't even consider stomping on a flower let alone standing toe to toe with his father. He did his best to hide from Claude, as they all did, but his attempts at remaining conspicuous never worked in his favour.

"If you want to beat someone, father, beat me."Eric brother firmly appealed, pulling his brother out of his father's grip. He forced his younger brother behind him."Beat me and leave them out of this."

"Very well."Claude cocked his head, fingers unfurling then furling back into a fist."And while you are a bloody mess on the ground i'll then punish your brother. It's about time he is forced to man up."

Jaime visibly flinched at the thought, eyes still on the ground when Eric stepped up to his father, shaking hands behind his back. Claude beckoned his son with a tilt of his head, leaning down to pick up the stick he had been beating his son with before his fists had taken over.

"NO!"

Before her mind could process with her movements, Delilah pushed her way through her brothers, and she lunged for her father, her goal simply to keep him away from her brothers. Delilah faintly heard the sound of her own screaming and her father's cries of anger before all she could hear was her own screaming.

"Delilah, no!"

Delilah pushed at her father's chest, hand rearing back before she brought the knife down. She bared her teeth as sobs threatened to fall from her mouth when she fell with her father to the ground. She could hear her heartbeat echoing in her ears as it raced up, thumping against her ribcage and giving her the adrenaline to carry on.

Without knowing how many times followed the first plunge, her eyes took in sight of the blade coming down as well as her father's shocked yelling. Delilah couldn't find it in herself to control her actions―all she knew was that her father was a deadly threat and she needed to stop him.

"You are going to pay for...stop, you―"

Delilah hated it when he yelled; it terrified her. So, in the panic and the fear of physical abuse following, she didn't stop until his yelling stopped.

"Stop yelling."Delilah screamed in between stabs, eyes wide when all she could see was red. Red that was warm."Just stop!"

Time slowed down andDelilah had no sense of how much had passed but, as if out of nowhere, she felt large hands take hold of her. She was suddenly lifted off of her father and, in her daze of fear, she fought valiantly against whoever had grabbed her.

"Delilah, you must calm down."She heard Eric shout in between her screams of protest. Her throat was burning from her scerams."Please!"

"NO, NO!"Delilah protested loudly, kicking at air."I need to stop him. I need―"

"He's stopped."She faintly heard Jaime say, firmly unlocking her fingers and taking the knife from her bloody hand."He's stopped."

Her fingers curled into her palm and Delilah shook her head, still struggling against her brother as she attempted to carry on with her task. A shaky exhale passed her lips when Eric sat her down beside him.

"He's gone, all right?"Eric held his sister close, arms wrapping around her. He pulled her in close with whispers of reassurance."He's gone, he's gone, he's gone."

Delilah gradually began to calm down in response to his promises that their father was no threat. Her heart began to beat at a regular pace when Jaime slumped down on her other side

"Forgive me."Delilah pleaded quietly, clutching at her brothers. They huddled closely together."Please, forgive me."

There was a lightness in the air when her brothers shook their heads. She managed a gasp of a laugh.

"There is nothing to forgive."Eric murmured with a firm shake of his head. Jaime imitated him almost instantly."You saved us."

Delilah released a breath of relief, blinking away her tears and finally seeing the blood on her hands against Jaime clean ones. Her eyes drifted over to their fallen father, and a chill ran through her. But then she processed that he wasn't going to get up, that he was dead and she suddenly felt weightless.

They were free.

"From now on...we are the powerful."Delilah mumbled tiredly, hands reaching up and gently touching Jaime and Eric's cheeks."From now on we decide our fate."

She was able to smile at each brother even if it pained her to maintain it. Sheer determination glimmered in her eyes her as they shined.

"We will never be ruled by fear. I promise."

jaime and Eric squeezed her hands in agreement, the pair smiling back at her.

"I'm sure I can help you reinforce your vow."

The three straightened at the unfamiliar presence, their features paling with alarm as their eyes landed on a young but stern looking man. He seemed no older than Eric, but he had an aura around him that made him seem venerable and, because of that, Delilah couldn't tear her eyes from him.

"Who are you?"Eric hastily questioned, drawing the stranger's eyes from his siblings."What do you want?"

The man didn't give off any worry in regards to Eric despite the height and brawny difference. The man was shorter than Eric but carried himself with a certain elegance. His dark hair that fell in his eyes a little was styled neatly, and his clothing looked worth more than their own. He was certainly wealthy, which made them wonder why he was mingling with those of obvious lower status.

"I was browsing for some amusement nearby when I caught on to your...predicament."The stranger carried on as if he hadn't heard the questions, a hand gesturing to their dead father."I must say, i'm quite pleased I did."

Delilah's stomach fell when his eyes redirected back to them. He took his time in studying each brother carefully before, ultimately, his gaze settled on her.

"Invite me in."

"W-Why?"Delilah shakily asked, rubbing her bloodied hands together. "Who are you?"

"There is no need to fret; I am not here to harm you. You can think of me as your salvation."He calmly replied, paying no mind to Eric and Jaime's dubious stares."Invite me in, please."

His tone was both graceful and commanding. And, surprisingly, Delilah didn't feel the need to cower away as she did with her father. She had defeated the monster and Claude had been the monster of monsters. She no longer felt fear, just a certain paranoia.

If he'd wanted to harm her, she knew he would've acted upon it. Instead, she felt oddly curious about the stranger as he kept her gaze, both daring her to refuse or comply with his order.

Eric and Jaime shook their heads, keeping their eyes on the stranger. They shuffled closer to their sister, each taking one of her hands.

"Delilah, I highly doubt his intentions."

"It's all right. Danger or not, he is outnumbered."Delilah whispered, brow furrowing when the man smiled, as if hearing her words and amused by them. She then slowly nodded, squeezing her brother's hands in reassurance."You can come in."

The stranger narrowed his eyes at her, studying Delilah again before he smiled."Thank you."

The man stepped over the threshold, his smile broadening when he did.

"I rarely find myself interested in mere mortals like yourself but, after what I just witnessed, the vigour you displayed as you fought to protect those you love. You went against your oppressor, the man you called father, without knowing if you'd survive."

The nameless man took a step further in without hesitance, passing the siblings and slowed down as he came up to Claude's bloody body. He hummed to himself, head tilted and nudged the bloody knife with his foot, smile altering into something thoughtful.

"You killed kin to protect kin. Of course, I can forgive that, you shouldn't fear kin."The man drawled, leaning down and picking up the bloody knife. He turned it over in his hand before he used it to point to Delilah."I find myself intrigued by your vigour—a human's vigour—and that in itself is remarkable."

The stranger's eyes lingered on her father's dead body, then he turned to face Delilah and her brothers.

"You are a warrior. You act when it is compulsory, despite your own hesitance, and you will kill to protect those you love."He dropped the knife without care and, having been engrossed in his assured body language, Delilah jumped."I respect that."

Delilah couldn't help but give a ghost of a smile at the sincereness in his voice."Who are you?"

His eyes honed in on Delilah, blue eyes clouding when she didn't attempt to break eye contact. He started to make his way over to her, still giving no heed to Eric and Jaime's cautious gazes.

"My name is Niklaus."

He rooted himself in front of Delilah, looming over her with a smile that she couldn't decipher. It read daring but reassuring altogether.

"But, please, call me Klaus."

Delilah's lips pulled up into an imitation of his smile, even though it wavered because of how overwhelming everything was. Her heart hammered against her ribcage, and resounded in her ears, the verve of the moment urging her to simply surrender.

"Delilah?"

Delilah's entire body slumped forward with a heavy exhale. She hung her head with a watery laugh, her lips stretching further into a broad smile. Her glassy eyes twinkled at the murmur of her name coming from him.

"Delilah."

Eric and Jaime's tight grips on her arms suddenly loosened until they were gone altogether and, even though there was a panicked sting in her chest, it was so distant that Delilah couldn't bring herself to look for them. Her environment became fraught with an unanticipated shift that had her unconscionably gravitating towards the stranger.

"My, my..."

Delilah straightened on her knees with a hurried nod and lifted her head to meet Klaus' eyes.

Only scramble back on her hands and knees when Klaus materialized in front of her, on his knees and wheezing for air. The collapse and the shift of power he'd had looming over her was simply gone. He hunched forward after her, hands flattening on the ground, eyes swarmed with anguish and searching for salvation.

"My Lilah."

His yearnful supplication of her name had Delilah reaching out desperately to clutch onto her brothers. Only for her hands to swipe at air because they were gone. Frantic, Delilah tipped her head back, looked side to side, and found that she was not only without her brothers but she was no longer home.

She was lost. In a sea of darkness, it seemed, until she chanced a look above and saw the moon glaring down her. That was until who she'd been scrambling away from appeared again, this time from above, and pinned her down to the ground.

"Lilah."He mouthed rather than said. It was a plea."I need you."

Delilah's lower lip wobbled and she snuffled with a whine. She attempted to push at his shoulders but could only bring herself to clutch at the lapels of his jacket. Her fingers furled in them and she clutched, unsure whether to force herself to push or bring him in closer.

"You can't be here,"She lowly mewled, momentarily preoccupied with the smears of blood on her fingers."How are you here, Klaus?!"

His lips trembled as he tried to form words. A reply. But was unable to do anything but repeat what he'd previously been pleading.

"Hear me, come to me, find me. Delilah."

Tears spilled and more brimmed at the invocation. The words managed to spur her into pushing at his shoulders, her legs joining in a moment later. She kicked, screamed, and pushed with all her four hundred plus years of might but he remained. He kept on looming over, the same words tumbling from his cracked lips.

"No, no! Let me go."She rasped desperately, struggling to free herself from Klaus' rigid grip."You're not here. I suppressed it. We..."

Delilah tore one hand from his lapel and raised it to strike him across the face. Only for it to freeze in mid-air when she saw the blood dripping from her hand. She gasped for air herself when Klaus started to wheeze again, blood and tears streaked across his face.

"Please."

Wet eyes flickering across his features, Delilah's face paled as realization started to dawn.

"Klaus..."She whimpered, his name coming out silent when her heartbeat began ringing in her ears again.

She flinched when he raised a hand to clasp her cheek and it was only then it sunk in. All she could see was grey. Desiccation. He was looming over her, ocean blue the few lone signs of life she could see. Delilah lost all fight and she let herself collapse.

"Lilah. Come to me, I beg of you."

Delilah lifelessly rolled her head to the side, reluctantly burrowing into Klaus' desiccated palm. Her heartbeat hollowed out as his summoning of her resounded in her ears. It filled her head, had her heaving for air.

"Hear me, come to me, find me."

"Stop."Her vision became blurred and everything began to dim. She shut her eyes against the blinding moon above."Please. Klaus. Klaus. Klaus."

A quivering whimper bubbled in Delilah's throat when fingertips dug deep into her wet cheek.

"I need you to listen. Come to Mystic Falls. Mystic Falls. I'm home. Lilah? Lilah. My Lilah. I can't..."

Klaus, Klaus, Klaus. His name came harsher and louder from her lips until it was a screech itching at her throat and burned when released.

"I..."

Delilah blinked through the tears swimming her eyes, chest heaving, and choking for air to fill her lungs. She rubbed at her bloodshot eyes with the heels of her hands, partly to rid of the tears and to hide from the deprecating moonlight seeping through her open windows.

"I can't, I can't,"

Drenched with sweat and tangled in her sheets, Delilah pushed at the pillows surrounding her, anything to stretch and remind herself that she wasn't there, that she was here.

As she stretched, her clenched hand collided with the body kneeling alongside her. She stilled in the middle of her bed but didn't recoil, and instead splayed her fingers across skin that wasn't her own.

"Del."The voice was familiar, crooning in her ear so Delilah's body went lax. The voice belonged there."Hey, listen to me. Listen."

The voice distorted, then withdrew and Delilah's fingers crooked. She pushed closer, in search of the voice and her fingers prodded painfully into flesh.

Desiccated skin. Revering but pained blue eyes. My Lilah. Lilah? Lilah. Del?

Seething through her gritted teeth, Delilah twisted and turned in her damp sheets towards the source of the voice. She thrust her hands out and reached for his throat, gripping and squeezing before she pulled him down on top of her.

"Del?"His body went reluctantly but with no fight. Hands braced themselves against her reaching arms, fingers locking around her wrists."Del, don't kill me, okay? You can't..."

Delilah snarled her desperation in response, burrowed into his neck then sank her fangs into where they'd pierced many times before. She never managed to be cognizant of the hiss he always gasped each time she first bit into him.

But she always, without fail, picked up on the second when she took her first swallow, it was an urging to take more. Subsequent noises he made were all white noise, as were the clutching of her wrists.

She did, however, comprehend the squeezing when she took too much. The pads of his fingers pressing into her skin, his thumbs persistent above her pulse—much like he was at that moment.

"Hey!"

The yelp was a warning. Stop.

Delilah liberated him on the fifth press of his fingers, fangs retracting and fingers loosening from around his throat. He dropped back onto the bed beside her, palm flying up to cup of his bite and alleviate the bleeding.

Delilah licked her lips of crimson, too lost in the euphoria and unwilling to be puled out, to protest when he guided her to lay back down beside him.

"I can't."She mouthed, subdued, and lost in her sated thirst. She batted at his hand until he let go and pushed back her damp hair.

"You kept saying that. Among other things, i―"

"Jude,"Delilah interjected, flinging aside the sheets twisted around her legs. The goosebumps dotting up her legs and arms as cool air met them were much appreciated.

"You were petrified. Are petrified."He rubbed a worried hand down his pale face, uncaring if he smeared his blood on his skin."Is it―"

A snarl ripped from her throat that instantly silenced him. Delilah pushed away at the pillow she'd been gripping only to change her mind and hurl it across the room.

"Yes, it is."She hissed out through clenched teeth."And now completely defective now."

She finished her reply with a pointed look at him, bitten lips curling up into an expectant smile. Jude shrugged his shoulders listlessly, nudging away the sheets to drag himself closer to her.

"I told you. My father told you. My entire family told you. The magic can only suppress so much, especially if he's pushing―"

"It's not just him pushing."She interjected firmly, looking over her shoulder at him."I saw him clearly this time. His skin, it was as...all I know is that something's not right with him."

Jude snorted."Pretty much the understatement of the last millennia, my heart."

Delilah's head snapped around and she served him a look that him recoiling. He held his hands up a second time, bowing his head an inch remorsefully.

"No."

Jude just nodded in acceptance. The heated anger that had been swirling in her eyes only seconds ago gradually dimmed. They glazed over again musingly, signalling that it was safe enough for him to come closer. He did and settled down just behind her shoulder, silently urging her to continue.

"No. Something's not right within him. Within him."Her hand hovered over her heart before she realized what she was doing. She quickly tucked a loose tress behind her ear."And if something's not right with him, Jude, then..."

Delilah swung her legs over the side of her bed and started to snatch up the clothing strewn across the floor. She tossed Jude his jeans and t-shirt then leaned back down to gather up her own, hiking up her legs to pull on her own jeans.

"You need to pack."

Jude's hands fell to his legs. His brow furrowed in confusion, and he shook his head questioningly. His eyes tracked her as she leaned over to slip her socked feet into her boots, a curtain of dark hair covering her face.

"I..."A hand came up to scratch the back of his neck, his other wiping remnants of sleep out of his eyes."What?"

He clambered out of bed after her, reaching for his clothes and shaking them out. As he pulled on his t-shirt, he caught a flash of Delilah darting around the room, halfway in her jacket.

"For me, too."He heard her add absentmindedly. He nodded along without truly taking in what she was saying."Then bring the car around, call Lou-Anne and tell her we'll need a flight. We're taking a trip."

Brushing a ringed hand through his mussed hair as he pulled down the hem of his shirt, Jude swept an incredulous hand at her. She gave no heed to his puzzled eyes following her around the room as she grabbed her pressing necessities—her cellphone, her favoured perfume, and, most paramount, a picture of her brothers.

"Trip?"He repeated with still furrowed brows, straightening his t-shirt and buttoning up his jeans."A trip where?"

Tresses of dark hair swiped at air when she glanced over at him."Home."

Her sharp reply had him reeling for a moment. Then another when she dropped to her knees and started reaching under her bed. Home.

"Home."Jude repeated, even more confused than he was before.

Delilah merely hummed in confirmation as she rose to her knees. He reached out for the suitcase she had in hand without a word.

"Huelva?"

Delilah was already halfway out door when she called back over her shoulder. Her essentials were clutched to her chest, thumb sweeping fondly over her Eric and Jaime's faces.

"No, not mine."There was a hesitance in her step. She pushed away from the doorframe before concluding."His."

"His?"Jude quietly questioned despite already knowing the answer. The heavy steps of Delilah's boots resounded in his ears as she departed from her room altogether. The question reached her sensitive ears, however, and her holler back was just as measured as her last.

"His, yes. Do hurry, Jude!"

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

Adding more depends on the feedback, i suppose. As stated above i've already written a few scattered chapters here and there so I do have a basic outline for this story.