Disclaimer: I don't own TVD or TO.

Anastasia's face claim: Banita Sandhu

Note: I'd like to think that Henrik died on the full moon of January of 1001 AD (the 12th) and Esther cast her spell maybe a month or so after to use the power of the full moon (February 10th). Rebekah says they spent weeks inside because of the sun, so it's probably around early March the Mikaelsons get their daylight rings. Esther curses Klaus during the March full moon (the 12th). Then Esther dies soon after. Mystic Falls is inland so I don't think the Mikaelsons just have a ship lying around when they weren't planning on returning to Europe so they head North to Canada, to the Norse settlement of Vinland (founded in 1000 AD) where they take a ship to Europe in early April. The trip across the Atlantic should take months, so they arrive maybe around fall 1001 AD and they travel around and reach France around 1002 AD. That's my timeline.

Read and Enjoy.


Chapter 2 - Arriving in Mystic Falls

February 10, 1001 AD

Esther sat before the White Oak tree chanting as she cast her spell. The moment she finished her chant and the spell took effect, the body of a young woman appeared in a burst of flames in the middle of the woods not too far from the village. The sun had set so the flames brought the attention of a group of men as they returned home from the hunt. They leered over the young woman's naked body, calling her names as they argued among themselves about which one among them would have their way with her first.

"Father..." her words came out in a whisper as she began to stir. Her body was still hot from the flames as she slowly regained her bearings. Her throat itched with a thirst and hunger that threatened to eat her from the inside out. As she stood up, she noticed that she was surrounded by men. Just the sight of their faces told her exactly what they wanted. She lowered her head, allowing her smirk to remain unseen. Well, she was hungry and a buffet had just presented itself to her.

In her previous life as Jane Smith, she had committed many crimes before. When she was younger, she would seduce rich boys to enter their houses to steal money and anything of enough value to feed her for a while without being missed by the rich people. Later she turned to hacking, moving small amounts of cash from rich people's bank accounts to her own or uploading ransomware. She never conned any poor person, nor did she steal anything worth more than a few thousand dollars as to not bring attention from police authorities to herself. She didn't do drugs or sell drugs because those crimes affected vulnerable demographics rather than the rich and powerful. She had never taken a life before, but she was Anastasia now. Her life as Jane had taught Anastasia many lessons when it came to feeding herself. Lesson 1: Don't prey on the innocent and vulnerable. Go for the rich. In her case, those men may not have looked rich, but they were criminals. She knew exactly what they wanted from her and if she didn't want to give it, she knew well they would take it by force. Lesson 2: Never steal from criminals. She never went after criminals as Jane. They were too dangerous and she knew if she stole from criminals, she would be hunted down and killed. But, these men were only human, and even as a transitioning vampire, she was still stronger than them. But she wanted to play it safe and smart.

Anastasia slowly quivered as she backed herself into a tree as one man stalked toward her. Even she wasn't a good enough actress to fake her quivering. Her gums were aching when she smelled the sickly sweet scent of blood rushing underneath their skin, forcing her fangs to elongate painfully. She felt the bark against her back as the man boxed her in with his large stature. "Show us a good time, eh, sweets..." The moment he leaned in to take her, she bared her fangs and sank them into his throat. The moment a drop fell on her tongue, she could no longer control herself, moaning as she took deep gulps of the man's blood until there was no more. Her eyes fluttered closed as she licked the rest of the blood that had spread all over her mouth and chin. It was divine, like the sweetest hot chocolate. Her body was energized with strength and power. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw the shocked and confused faces of the men. She looked down at her body, where blood had dripped down between her breasts. Well, it was her first time so it was expected of her to be a messy eater with no self-control. Well, anyway, she completed her transition and all that's left is for her to eat her fill. She was going to have to take shelter in someone's house so she didn't want to still be hungry and kill her host. She could also get more information about the Mikaelson family.

When the men finally realized what had happened, they tried to run but it was too late. With her newfound speed and strength, she incapacitated her meals by breaking their legs before she ate them one by one. When she got to the last one, she wanted to try something else. Compulsion. She brought the man's face forward and stared into his eyes. She didn't know how to do the eye-dilating thing but she tried to give him an order she wanted him to follow. She said it with authority and conviction. "Okay, I want you to take off your shoes, put your foot in your mouth, and lick each toe individually for five seconds starting with your small toe to your big toe. Then I want you to break your big toe with your teeth. Oh, and don't scream." It was such a specific command that should the compulsion not work, she would know immediately that the man had tried to fake following her commands. But she felt her influence reaching the man's mind. He did exactly as she told him, even to the point of breaking the big toe without making a sound. "Okay, good. From now on, you will do exactly as I say and answer any and all questions I have. Now take off your clothes. You will take me to the house of a family with no children of their own who are social outcasts." She looked at the deer carcass on the ground. "Do you have a family?"

"No."

"Do your friends have families?"

"No."

"How do you four know each other?"

"We live together. We hunt together and fight together. Our parents are dead. We have no wives or children."

"Oh, okay then." She took the man's tunic and slid it over her naked body, watching as it draped over her smaller and shorter figure like a snuggie. "You will also give me that deer you and your friends hunted for dinner. Then you will go home and bring everything of value that you have back to me." She looked around at the dead bodies on the ground. Since the Mikaelsons were still dead as they transitioned, it would be suspicious if she left these bodies out drained of blood lying around to be found by their neighbors. Esther and Ayanna would be suspicious. With her newfound strength, she lifted the bodies and piled them on top of each other. She took the men's swords and everything of value she found on their bodies. She reached inside of herself, feeling her father's power burning like a furnace inside her body. 'Do I need a spell? Will English work?' Once again, with conviction, she said, "Ignite." She touched the bodies, igniting them in hot blue flames from her hands, burning them until all that was left was nothing but ash. She turned to the only man left alive and said to him, "Listen and Obey: You and your friends went hunting. You were attacked by a large cougar and your friends were killed. You had to burn their bodies. You will tell no one of what happened on this night. Repeat every order I've given to you word for word to show me that you understand." Even if he didn't remember everything perfectly, the compulsion forced him to repeat everything she said since she began her compulsion.

She followed behind the man to a house at the very edge of the village. Anastasia could see the many houses in the distance but this one was still further out into the forest rather than closer to the rest of the village. The man knocked on the door, and the moment another man in his mid-forties answered, Anastasia began her compulsion to receive an invitation into his home. The hunter followed her into the house to hand the deer over to the wife and the slave girl who was working at the fireplace in the middle of the house. She compelled the man and his wife and the slave girl to think of her as a wanderer who needed shelter and they provided for her in return for the deer carcass. They were compelled to follow her every order. After settling in, the wife gave Anastasia some of her old dresses to wear.

With the Mikaelsons still incapacitated, Anastasia left the house to perform under the veil of the night sky. 1. She needed vervain. She was planning on living in the village secretly until the Mikaelsons leave after Klaus kills Esther. She would need to remain hidden and it was the reason she picked the house furthest from the village. She needed to learn as much as she could about the Mikaelsons without interacting with them. And as a vampire, she still had all the weaknesses of the Originals, including vervain. Anastasia was planning on building a tolerance to the burning herb as soon as possible. Although she could not be compelled as an Original Vampire, she could still be incapacitated by Vervain. Slowly, she planned on building a tolerance until she became completely immune to the pain.

She walked around the village, her head whipping back and forth at every sound she heard in the night. She heard the high-pitched squeaking of a bat before she saw the bat taken in mid-flight by an owl deep among the foliage of the forest. The night that was supposed to be silent, had never been so loud to her. She could hear people talking in their houses and worse, she could smell the human and animal excrements left in the middle of the streets. Anastasia sighed. 'I'll have to wait 900 years before I can get indoor plumbing.' She held her breath and closed her eyes to block out any sounds further from her. As she walked toward the village center, she walked past the butcher's, the miller's, and the tavern, among many other shops. She was sure during the day, the main street would be bustling with life as people went about their chores and daily lives. In the dead center of the street, she saw the ancient White Oak Tree. The only thing in the world that can kill her. And at its base, the harmful blue vervain (which was a common plant with many varieties in her world). Just behind the tree was a large longhouse, that she recognized at a glance. The Mikaelson home. She saw a small vegetable garden by the house with the animal pen just beside it and a line for hanging laundry. Behind the house was what she assumed to be the outhouse judging by the smell coming from the direction. The family was probably still dead as they transitioned as a small amount of candlelight illuminated through their window. Focusing her hearing on the inside of the longhouse, she heard rustling and crying inside as Esther and Mikael waited for their children to awaken.

Anastasia looked around her to find no one in the vicinity as she brought her hand close to the head of the flower. A soft hissing could be heard when her hand touched the plant, burning her like acid before she quickly pulled her hand away. She turned her palm to watch as her epidermis slowly knitted itself back together. The burns were gone but the pain in her hand still remained. Anastasia pulled out a pair of sacks, putting one on each hand to act as gloves before she kneeled on the ground to dig. She dug up the vervain at the roots, placing them on the ground beside her, making sure no exposed skin touched any part of the plant. After she gathered a nice bushel of flowers, she placed them in the sack. She looked toward the Mikaelson house once more before she turned around and headed back to her host family.

When she entered the house, the deer had already been skinned and cut into pieces by the men while the wife and the slave girl were preparing dinner. She looked at the bouquet of vervain in her hand. Her weakness. She placed the sack in the corner before she approached the men and women. "Everyone, stand up. Stand in a line. Don't move and don't talk." She started with the man from the hunt. "When I say 'Listen and Obey', you will stand and present yourself to me for orders. You will do everything I say when I say. You never take any action that can harm me. If you hear anyone plotting to harm me in any way, you will kill them. You will never tell anyone about me, not my name or what I look like, or any plans I have unless I allow you to. You will not eat or drink or carry vervain on your person. You will not try to overcome this compulsion. If you try anything to override my compulsion, you will kill yourself in the most efficient way possible. You will not remember that I compelled you. You will simply follow all orders given by me subconsciously. This compulsion will last so long as I live or until I consciously remove it." With that, she locked down the compulsion with each and every one of them. She was already planning to leave in a few weeks and never see these people again, but should anything unexpected happen, none of these four individuals could ever do anything to harm her.

After that, they sat together at the table and ate venison stew together while the rest of the meat was stored away under the house after being salted. The hunter returned home with orders to return with parchments, ink, fabric, money, and anything else of value he had in his home the next morning.

It had been a long night and the middle-aged couple was already hosting her for several weeks and she was grateful. She would not allow them to do anything to harm her, but she would also not take advantage of them in any way. She let the couple keep their wooden-framed bed while she slept in the servant's quarters with the slave girl, Aslaug, on a bed of hay and fur.


A hay bed was the most uncomfortable thing she had ever slept on. All the hay was picking at her skin with every toss and turn she made. She was able to fall asleep, but Anastasia did not get a good night's sleep. Aslaug woke several hours before the sun was set to rise, waking Anastasia with her.

"Aslaug..." she said groggily as she sat up on the hay. "What are you doing?"

"I have chores, my lady," she replied.

Anastasia yawned. She was a vampire so she was already energized for the day. "Has the sun risen yet?"

"No, my lady."

"Then, I'll help you."

The girl shook her head. "I couldn't..."

"It's fine. I'm strong. If I help you, we'll finish your chores faster. I need to hunt down my breakfast as well." After changing into day clothes, Anastasia walked down to the river with Aslaug in the early morning. There were other slave girls awake by the river, washing their bodies with wet rags, and socializing before their masters awoke. Anastasia stripped herself of her clothes and jumped into the river. It was January and the water was cold, but it was refreshing against her skin. As a vampire, her body didn't register extreme temperatures. She was always at equilibrium. Without soap, she just wiped herself with a rag and left the river, and put her dress back on. As Aslaug gathered herbs by the river, Anastasia filled two large buckets full of water. She carried them back to the house with Aslaug.

Anastasia stopped in her tracks, pulling Aslaug into hiding behind a large tree. "Shh." She watched as Mikael grabbed a blonde young girl and pulled her into his house. She strained her ears to hear him ordering his children to drink from the girl. Just the sound of their fangs chomping down on flesh made her feel her hunger rising. She needed to feed. "Come on, Aslaug." She picked up the buckets again and rushed toward the house, at a relatively fast human pace. She dropped the buckets in the kitchen and rushed out of the house using her vampire speed to hunt. She needed to find her meal before sunrise, or else she was afraid she'd have to feed on her hosts. She didn't want that. She was trying to teach herself control. And eating her hosts was certainly not controlled.

She hunted outside the village. Anyone unlucky enough to be found by her at such an hour in the morning became her victim. She filled herself up with blood, draining everyone in her path. She could control her reaction to blood when it was inside a person's body, but when she got a taste, she couldn't stop. She stood amongst the bodies, moaning in pleasure like a beautiful goddess of death with her chin dripping with the blood of her victims, black veins bulging under her red eyes. She piled the bodies up and burned them with her blue flames, turning all their flesh and bones to ash. Anastasia returned to the river to wash her dress and her body, using all her strength to remove the bloodstain before she returned to the house.


The curtains all over the house remained closed as Anastasia remained in Aslaug's windowless corner on the cot for the whole day since the sun rose. The hunter came with the things she asked for. She gave the wife some of the money the hunter brought to buy furs for the winter nights, clothes, lapis lazuli gemstones, and rings. The hunter also gave her a sword, a dagger, and a bow with several arrows in preparation for her trip. She was uncertain that the wife would be able to find the lapis lazuli since they had always been rare and found abundantly in the Afghan region. In 1001 AD, it hasn't been found in this region yet. The stones were so precious, they were used in paintings for Egyptian temples and tombs. She used to wonder where Esther found the stones that she had them lying around to make daylight rings for her children and her husband. But, it makes sense that she would have a collection of precious and semi-precious stones as a witch to perform her rituals and spells. She even had the moonstone to bind Klaus' curse. They were also Vikings who went raiding all over Europe, so they could have gotten their hands on the rare stones.

Anastasia was hoping the wife could find some for sale in the market because there's no way she was going to enter a house with six newborn Original vampires and a powerful witch. She didn't have a death wish. She remained in her dark corner with ink, parchment, and a brush to try to create the daylight enchantment spell. The show never chanted the spell out loud. But, one thing she knows about spells is that they can be anything in any language. She just needed to focus her magic power with her intent.

The wife was able to find and buy everything Anastasia asked for, including a few lapis lazuli stones. With her ink, brush, and parchment, she was able to create a few spells she thought could work. She focused on the magic she felt inside her, bringing the magic forth to her palms raised to the gemstone in a slit of sunlight entering where the curtain was slightly pulled back. She was unsure if she needed a chant, but she chanted one of the spells she wrote on the parchment as it helped her focus better. "Protection." She pulled the gemstone back with a stick, holding it in one hand as she brought her other hand into the sunlight. "Ah!" The sun burned her. She pushed the stone back into the strip of sunlight. "Sun Sheild."

Burn.

"Sun protection."

"Sunscreen."

"Protect me from the sun."

"I don't want to burst into flames."

"Don't let me burn."

She mixed several of the phrases together and spoke irreverently like a prayer. "Oh, father, grant me protection from the harmful rays of the sun so I shall not burst into flames and return to ashes." She pulled the stone back with a stick, holding it in one hand before bringing her other hand out into the sun. A smile spread across her face when she did not burn in the sun. She jumped and cheered, still holding on to the semi-precious stone. With her stone spelled, Anastasia chose a silver ring to set the stone into. The ring was a simple thick band of silver. Using her hot flames, she softened the metal and filed the inside of the silver flat. The flat side would be on her palm while the thicker side would house the stone. Using just a kitchen knife, she carved a series of diagonal lines intersecting at a central line that went all along the body of the ring. The intersecting lines acted like an arrow, pointing to the elevated setting of the round blue stone.

"It is beautiful, my lady," said Aslaug as she stared at the ring on Anastasia's left ring finger as they sat in front of the sunny window. She did not burn. Aslaug braided Anastasia's thick black hair back into a long braid tied at the end with a cotton ribbon. The girls changed seats and it was Anastasia's turn to braid Aslaug's hair. Over the short few days Anastasia had been staying with the family, Aslaug had learned that Anastasia would not treat her differently even though she was a slave. She helped her with the daily chores from laundry to removing manure from the animal pens, allowing Aslaug to have more free time. With Anastasia's help, Aslaug was able to make new crafts to sell at the market, allowing her to make her own money for the first time in her 15 years of life.

The young girl knew that Anastasia was a bloodsucker and a killer, but she had never done anything to harm Aslaug. In fact, she had defended the girl many times from the other slave girls and even defended those girls from the men who sought to take advantage of them. So what if she killed men and drank their blood? Many men kill and they kill for fun and some men drank the blood of their enemies. She was different from the warmonger who came to her village to kill and plunder and rape and enslave women. She killed because she needed blood to survive. Aslaug saw nothing wrong with that.

"Thank you," Anastasia replied. She turned to the husband and wife. "For the next few weeks, I'll be making preparations to leave this place. You took me into your home, even though I sort of forced you to, but I want to repay you in any way that I can I can do chores. Anything you need and you can ask me. I'll do it if I can. Um, I know how to sew and knit. I don't think I'll have trouble hunting or cooking or starting fires or doing heavy labor. I can even make salt to sell. If I don't have time, I'll tell you." Anastasia sighed. Skills useful in the 21st century that helped her survive - computer programming - were completely useless in the 11th century. The only reason Anastasia knew how to sew and knit was because, as Jane, she had to repair her old clothing with her own two hands. She couldn't afford gloves so she knitted her own. Thank God for YouTube. She learned all the skills from watching online tutorials. As a vampire, her senses were heightened and she's had no problems hunting wild animals so far to supplement her diet with animal blood. Disgusting as it was, she couldn't keep hunting humans in such a small settlement. People would take notice, especially the witches she was trying to avoid. Her status as a vampire also gave her perfect recall, so she could remember anything and everything she ever saw, including some random YouTube video she watched years ago about making salt just because she was curious. Not to mention all those history channel shows.

The husband and wife glanced at each other as they were not expecting the young bloodsucker to begin rambling like a child. They knew of her strength and speed, but they were not allowed to talk about it. Their household had become much more efficient with her around and they had much more free time to enjoy their day. They also had more meat to eat from her hunts. Any help she could give, they would take. "Thank you, my lady."

Anastasia and Aslaug covered their heads with thick cotton veils, wrapped under the chin to protect their ears from the cold, held in place with a simple headband. They wore a long-sleeved tunic that reached the ankles over their white slip and thick woolen knit socks. Over the long-sleeved dress, they wore another tunic with wide-sleeves tied at the waist with a card-woven multicolored belt. Multicolored stone accessories dangled around their necks and the sides of their headbands, each matching the green and gray color scheme worn by Aslaug and the red and brown scheme worn by Anastasia.

Although she did not feel cold, she still needed to keep up the appearance of a normal human around the village, which meant wearing many layers in the early February winter.

"Don't invite anyone from Mikael and Esther's family into the house. We'll be back in a few days. Stay inside from sunset to sunrise. Stay safe." Anastasia warned before she left the house with Aslaug. After walking for a good thirty minutes, Anastasia used her senses to scan her surroundings. She only heard the sound of the animals of the forests without a human around. "Come Aslaug." She gave the younger girl her wooden pail before pulling the girl onto her back. "Hold on as tight as you can. If you feel uncomfortable, tell me and I'll stop." With her supernatural speed, they headed to the coast. A trip that would have taken almost two days on foot took about half an hour of nonstop running. And she was only using her senses to guide her.

The girls settled in a cave and set up a makeshift salt bed on top of a mound of rocks. Anastasia collected dried wood from the surrounding forest and lit the wood on fire while Aslaug brought saltwater from a hole in the cave that led down to the ocean. Aslaug wanted to go explore the beach and collect shells and beautiful stones to sell at the market. The young slave girl had never been to the beach before.

Anastasia removed all her clothes and undergarments and folded them neatly on a rock by the cliff. Grabbing a makeshift wooden spear and woven basket, she dove into the sea to catch fish.

When night came, they had grilled and eaten some of the fish they caught with baked potato and grilled corn. The girls laid back on the grass as they watched the starry sky overhead.

"You know, where I come from, I can never see this many stars," Anastasia said.

"Really?"

"Mmhmm."

"I think that's a shame. When I look at the stars, I feel free. I know seamen use the stars to navigate to move back and forth from this land to the old land. I want to be free. To explore the world and see the stars everywhere."

"When did you arrive here?"

"I came here when I was five years old as a slave. I don't remember my motherland but I would like to see it again," she said. "Across the icy ocean."

"Do you want to know what this ocean is called?"

"What is it?"

"Some of the easterners from the Old World call it the Sea of Atlas or the Atlantic Ocean," Anastasia explained. "If you walk across this land westward, you will find another vast ocean even larger than this one. Northwestward, there is a place in the winter where the ice freezes that may allow one to walk from this landmass to another landmass connected to your old country. "

"Truly?" Aslaug listened attentively to Anastasia.

"It is the road I will take when I leave the village." In the next coming weeks, Anastasia knew that the Mikaelsons would head to Europe by sea. It's likely that they would head to Newfoundland where the Vinland Viking settlement is located to catch a ship to the Old World. Anastasia could not interfere with their journey for the next few centuries, so she decided to take another route, to explore the world on her own as she was never able to as a human. She would eventually meet them in a few centuries in Europe.

She also wouldn't be able to get on a ship to traverse the Atlantic Ocean as the seafaring Norsemen could. The Mikaelsons were returning home to Europe. Anastasia was born in Wales but lived most of her 30 years of her previous life in London. Although her face and body were the same as before, her Father had de-aged her by 10 years. She would look like a 20-year-old for all eternity. She'd also need a male companion in this misogynistic era in order to travel. Anastasia wasn't keen on turning a human into a vampire using her blood. She wanted to choose her progeny carefully to make sure that none of them become a plague on the earth, slaughtering senselessly. She liked Aslaug, but Anastasia had only known the girl for a few days. She'd have to compel a human man to accompany her. She did not want to be accompanied by the hunter, whom she had been taking advantage of. He and his friends had tried to assault her. The only reason she left him alive was that she found him useful to her. Even with her compulsion, she didn't want him to be in her presence for longer than he needed to be. Before she left the village, she would kill him.

"Must you leave?" Aslaug asked.

"I must. I, also, want to see the world. And in a few weeks, the entire village will be destroyed."

"What?" Aslaug sat up. "Then, let me come with you."


Question: We all know that the Originals go back to the Old World (east) and end up in France by ship. Since Anastasia can't be with them, she'll be traveling through the Continental US (west), up to Canada, and Alaska through the Bering Strait into Russia. She'll move back south into Northern Song Dynasty China. So what would you, my lovely readers, like to happen? Where would you like her to visit throughout her journey through the past 1000 years of history? Which people should she meet, and where should she live? I'm not very well versed in pre-Columbian America so make your suggestions about the places you want to see. And since we're headed west, not south, there will be no Mayan, no Aztecs, and no Inca civilizations. Anything south of Virginia will not be included. Since we're heading to Alaska, I'll definitely include some Inuit and Yupik peoples native to the region around the Bering Strait, but don't expect anything more than a cameo and some trade between my protagonist and the tribes. I'm not a historian so I'll be using Google for my facts. Sorry if I get something wrong and offend some people. This is supposed to be fun so I'll try not to put anything too controversial on here.

I'm definitely going to include India and travel along the silk road. I want to see the Byzantine empire before its collapse and see the rise of Venice and return to the Americas after Columbus. That's a general map. Anyone who wants to recommend someplace can place them in the review box and we can have detours and see new places we've never seen before.

Since the producers on TVD used lavender to depict vervain on the shows, I decided to use Blue Vervain since they share similarities with their long green stocks with purple flowers.

By just typing "10th-century Norse clothing" in google, I find more interesting outfits than anything CW came up in their 8 years of running this show.

I'm also trying to be as historically accurate as I can. Remember, this is America that has no barnyard animals. So no horses, cows, goats, or sheep. They're too big to be brought over by ship. I think pigs and chicken could have been brought over by the Vikings (I'll use Vikings and Northmen and Norse interchangeably) since they're small enough. There are no roads for wheeled vehicles outside of settlements so everything long-distance has to be carried by hand.

Thanks for reading.