Chapter One
The Plantation, New Orleans - Present
Rebekah slammed the tiny door of her stolen red convertible shut after hearing the sharp beep as the monotone pre-recorded voice of her brother Elijah annoyingly asked her to leave a message for what she thought to be the thousandth time.
"Elijah, if not answering your phone is part of your clever plan to get me back to this godforsaken city, then well done. I'm here, and I'm worried. Now pick up before I kick in your bloody door." She hung up and walked swiftly towards the huge double doors that stood proudly at the top of the small stairway.
Turning the knob of the door she authoritatively walked through giving a quick look around the place, her eyes scanning the room for even the faintest sign that Elijah was there, before a voice rang out from atop of the stairs.
"Who the hell are you?"
Rebekah looked up to see a brunet woman standing protectively above holding onto a mismatched iron poker tightly.
"Oh, you must be the maid. My bags are in the car, get them, will you?" Rebekah assumed as she pointed arrogantly at the door.
"Hello. Not the maid." The woman spoke smiling slightly in confusion as she relaxed her guard slightly.
"Right. You're that werewolf girl my brother, Klaus, knocked up. I was expecting to see some kind of supernatural, miracle baby bump. Guess you're not showing yet. It's Hayley, isn't it?" Rebekah asked as her eyes finally lit in recognition. By her rude tone and unwelcoming posture, Hayley could clearly tell she was unwelcomed in the house.
"You have your brother's manners." Hayley said sarcastically.
"And his temper, too, so watch it. Where's Elijah?" she asked looking around and getting slightly worried.
"Beats me. He's long gone." Hayley told her still irritated that he had just up and left.
"What do you mean, 'long gone'?" Rebekah asked her voice beginning to sound as dangerous as many people had become to fear over the centuries.
"Well, one minute he was here making epic promises about protecting me in this predicament that a bottle of scotch and some bad decisions got me into – he was all poetic about how we're family – and then Klaus told me he bailed. Guess that's what I get for trusting a vampire."
"Elijah is not just any vampire, and he doesn't break promises. Which means Niklaus has done something dastardly and Klaus-like. Klaus! Get out here and tell me what you've done with our brother, you narcissistic, back-stabbing wanker!" Rebekah shouted loudly enough for Klaus to hear. The door now in front of her opened revealing Klaus who entered the room smiling evilly as he very often did.
"Enough with all the shouting. Little sister, I should have known. I assume the six dead vampires were your doing?" he assumed.
"They were very rude." Rebekah replied "Trying to victimize a poor, innocent girl just trying to find her way to the Quarter. So sorry, were they friends of yours? Oh, that's right, you don't have any friends." Rebekah smirked.
"I do have friends. I have Marcel. You remember him, don't you? Yes, of course you do. He fancies himself the 'King of the Quarter' now, and he has these rules about killing vampires. It'll be fun to see what sort of punishment he comes up with for you." He sneered hauntingly as the siblings continued their banter.
"I don't care about Marcel or his rules. Elijah doesn't welch on deals. What did you do to him?" she asked getting more to the point.
"Perhaps he's on holiday... or taking a long autumn nap upstairs. Well, go on. Take a look around. You might even find some more of our family and friends lying up there." He mocked invitingly.
"You remember this house as well as I."
Rebekah turns sorrowfully to face him
"I remember everything."
Later that day…
"The governor had lots of secret rooms. I'll show you his favourite." Rebekah said leading Hayley on a futile quest about the old house. Rebekah finally reaches a door that opens up to reveal a hidden cellar room covered in cobwebs and dust. Its contents were empty except for the seemingly vacant antique coffins that filled the room.
"You think Klaus killed him." Hayley said not very up to date with the whole original thing.
"We can't be killed, silly girl. That doesn't stop Klaus from finding ways to torture us. He has a set of mystical silver daggers. One in the heart sends us into a deep slumber. Klaus gets his jollies from keeping us in a box, until he decides to pull the dagger out. That must be what he's done to Elijah. This one's mine." She said pointing one of them out.
"He keeps your coffin on standby" Hayley stated incredulously.
"He likes to be prepared for when his family members inevitably disappoint him. Elijah's isn't here – he must've stashed him elsewhere...else" Rebekah spied a dusty, ancient coffin tucked away in the corner of the room.
"Hello" she whispered curiously walking over to where the casket was perched. Rebekah reached out wiping a thick layer of the dust away from the lid revealing a faint outline of the family marking, M. She breathed in sharply not believing it.
It couldn't be, there is no way. He wouldn't lie, not about that, not for that long. Rebekah thought. Perhaps maybe there was a chance that Klaus had been lying. Who was she kidding its Klaus, of course he would lie to her.
Hayley shuffled over besides her.
"What is it?" she asked. Rebekah wordlessly opened the coffin up, after not being opened for so long the wood splintered off wrecking the lining. Rebekah peered cautiously down into the box not believing her own eyes.
Inside lay a young girl, couldn't be more than seventeen years old, dressed in what Hayley believed to be a vintage, white night dress equipped with a dried blood stain in the centre of her chest spilling out of what appeared to be a thin dagger inserted into her chest. She had a small frame compared to the coffin that housed her body, roughly 5'2. She seemed to share a lot of the common Mikaelson traits with a slim pale face, high cheekbones and full red lips. Her hair once a vibrant gold, it lay there as dull and lifeless as the body that grew it. Her eyes were closed and her skin that used to be a creamy white complexion now looked pale blue and deathly.
"Is that...your sister?" Hayley asked "I feel sick."
"Welcome to the family" Rebekah said placing her warm hand against her sister's cold one still not quite believing that the girl laying there was her.
"What's her name?" Hayley asked, Rebekah snapped out of her trance and looked over at Hayley.
"Nikolah" she replied pulling her hand away sadly as she moved to pull the dagger from her chest. In one swift move Rebekah yanked the thin blade out effortlessly.
"This is my younger and only sister" she said softly as the colour very slowly came back to her.
"How long has he been down here?" Hayley asked her still looking mortified at the body, she if this was what he did to his teenage sibling, then what would he do his own child
"Don't know, last I saw her it was in 1822, she had left a note behind saying that she was fleeing from the City and Niklaus to be with a man she fell in love with. We didn't know where she went, Klaus attempted tracking her down but said he couldn't find her. A couple of years later he reported that she had perished at our father's hands after moving back to the Old World. We never really did find out, he must have been keeping her locked up in here on standby like a pawn until he found a situation advantageous enough to bring her out." Rebekah said as she glared off into the distance at the thought of her brother's cruelty. She looked back down at her sister, smiling slightly at the thought of having her oldest and only friend back in the world. She would be damned if she let Nikolah be taken away from her again.
Suddenly the once still body's eyes snapped opened so fast that Hayley jumped back in shock.
"What the big, bad, wolf scared of a kid original, pathetic" Rebekah said then smiled looking down at Nikolah's dark brown orbs the matched with those of her brother's Elijah and Kol.
Nikolah tried to sit up as Rebekah lent her a hand. The young girl's muscles and joints creaked with pain after laying still for almost two hundred years.
"Hayley, could you go fetch me some blood from the fridge down stairs?" Rebekah asked taking charge. Hayley nodded silently her eyes still wide.
"I've got you, I've got you. Don't worry, your big sister Beks will protect you now." Rebekah said soothingly as she petted Nikolah's head in a mother like manner. Nikolah seemed to relax in her sister's embrace. Hayley rushed in bringing with her 2 blood bags full of blood.
"Ah, I got O- and B+." Hayley said giving them to Rebekah who ripped one open and then feeding it to Nikolah who greedily lapped at the blood, colour returning to her face much faster now, Rebekah opened up the second one and gave it to her. After she had finished, Nikol looked up at sister, then whispered in a weak, heartbroken voice.
"Rebekah?" Rebekah nodded smiling at her, Nikol swung her legs over the leather fitted coffin as Rebekah helped her down. Nikol stood gently on her two legs and smiled slightly at the two of them.
"How do you feel?" Hayley asked her.
"I believe I am alright, well, as good as can be expected I suppose. Thank you," Nikol replied, her long acquired English accent reigning through much alike to her other siblings.
"What happened" Rebekah asked her concerned. "Niklaus showed us a letter saying you had run away for love and that four years later our father had staked you."
"I had left for sure. Father however, I haven't seen our father since we fled from our home. Niklaus stabbed me soon after he tracked me down, I asked him to leave me be, but he wouldn't. He killed him Bekah right in front of me, then he stabbed me." she whimpered her voice soft.
"Why did you run? Why not stay? I would have helped you." Rebekah asked patiently, upset that her sister had not trusted her enough to help.
"What, you think that Klaus would have allowed us to be together? After the countless times he has taken away those who you loved. If Elijah and I couldn't stop him from doing that to you, then how could you help me." she said sadly as Rebekah cast her eyes down to the floor.
"How long have I...?"
"Been asleep? It must have been almost 200 years give or take." she replied. Nikol's eyes widened in hurt as tears began to form at the corner of her eyes.
"Two hundred years? Two hundred years? You have run away countless times and he has only daggered you for less than decade. I ran away one time and I was kept in a casket for two hundred years like boring, old, suicidal Finn. Arsehole! I should have fled the moment our mother passed."
"You and me both, but I am here now, this time will be different I will look after you don't you worry, we will get out of here. Now, let's get you down stairs, maybe we should have your hair cut and possibly get you some new clothes."
"I do look like I have rolled around in a swamp, don't I? As long as I do not have to wear that atrocity you call clothing." Nikolah said looking disgustedly at Rebekah's funeral dress that cut off at the knees and what she could only assume to be an exotic riding outfit, that's lower half got mauled by wild rabid dogs, leaving only the ass covered worn by Hayley.
The two girls helped the weak girl out of the dusty old room.