I'm a horrible, horrible person! I am so sorry to my readers that this chapter has taken me so long to write. At first I didn't have the motivation to start the next chapter, and then The Originals came on, and I thought, "What's the point? They can just watch the TV Show". I then just wanted to write this because I wanted to. Please forgive me for the long wait/hiatus.
I would like to know what time periods you all would like to read about. I still would wish to do the 20's even though it was shown in The Vampire Diaries. Any time frame will work I would just need to brush up on the history for it.
Again, my deepest apologizes, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Disclaim: L.J. Smith, and Julie, producer of Vampire Diaries, owns all characters.
Please Review :) They make me happy! Enjoy your day!
~Witch
Chapter Five: Rise Above
Rebekah couldn't comprehend the words that which her mother was speaking of. The words were a strange and foreign concepts to her, and she just look at her brothers in silence. Could her precious mother have caught the horrid Black Death, and has become ill? Was her mother always ill? No, Rebekah knows her mother was never this ill since she was always with Rebekah since she was a young girl. What wicked untruth were they not telling them?
"Mother, what will become of us?" Elijah asks rubbing his tired eyes.
"I will not explain myself again, Elijah. You are vampires." She says curtly, and looks over to the shadows with a sly smile.
Finn looks over to the shadows, since he was the closest to their mother, and the small candlelight dances over small feet.
"Grace? Mother, what is my classmate doing here?" Rebekah, asks although Niklaus puts his finger to his lips as if to shush her.
Their mother doesn't answer her, but drags the poor girl by her hair in the center of the children. Her cries and pleads tear at Elijah's heart. He is the eldest child, and should protect the young girl.
"Mother, what-"
"Elijah, hold your tongue before your mother or by the Spirits I will-"
" I will handle our children, Esther." Mikael gruffs once, and Rebekah looks down at her bloody nightgown. She is terrified of her own father.
Grabbing the sharpened spear Kol had made for his birthday he grabs Grace's small wrists, and slits them. Blood rushes out of the small girl's veins, and tears flow down her cheeks as she tries to release herself from the strong grip. Rebekah's breathing hitches as if she can't get enough air. It burns to breath, and she claws at her throat trying to detach her skin and muscles from her esophagus, and release the burn. Gripping her throat, she locks eyes with Niklaus whose eyes have gone a deeper shade in his pupil, and reddened veins run down his eyes.
"Nik…" Rebekah whispers trying to go to her brother, but he whips his head away from her. She screams as his teeth bite down into the young bleeding girl, and she pushes at Niklaus's face, but he digs deeper.
"Stop him!" Rebekah screams, finally moving to get to her feet, but Mikael grabs her, and pulls her to his chest.
"Let him do this child or he will die, and so you will as well." Mikael tells her in a hushed voice, and Esther has urged her other siblings to Grace.
"I will not drink from this poor girl!" Rebekah tries to say in a strong voice, but Mikael has pushed her onto the younger girl clouding her words.
"You will do as I say." Mikael grabs her blond curled locks, and pushes her face towards the open wound.
Rebekah's mouth strains as if she has bitten into Niklaus's bread he had once tried to make. Small moans escape her lips as she feels her delicate canine teeth run past her baby teeth. Rebekah groans as she smells the blood which has once again confused her. She should not be able to smell blood, but she can. A hunger she has never felt before rages in her throat. It was worse than when her mother had forbid her from food for multiple days from running in the woods. Her throat feels like the pricks and pins of heated thorns has made their way down her mouth and into the bottom of her throat.
"Go on, sweet Rebekah." Her mother cooes at Rebekah stroking her long hair like she had done when she had nightmares.
"I will not she does not deserve this." Rebekah pleads once more hoping this is all a sick fantasy from those crushed berries Niklaus and her had shared.
"Did you not mutter cries of hate when she called you names, and pulled on your braids and dresses? How many times has Elijah had to calm Niklaus for his fear that his brother would harm the girl? This foolish girl deserves it, child." Esther says in a cold voice Rebekah does not recognize. Where are her parents she has always grown up with? Surely not these terrible people.
Mikael, who has had enough of his daughter's disobedience, pushes her head further down until she is nose deep in blood. She struggles against him, but she is too new at being vampires and therefore unable to defend herself. She's just a girl anyway. Meanwhile Rebekah whispers how sorry she is at her dying classmate, and starts to suck the blood from her wrist. Her grip tightens on the drowsy girl, and feels the burn in her throat lessen. Sooner than she would care to admit, blood stops pouring into her mouth, and Rebekah looks up to see all her siblings hovered around the dead girl covered in blood.
"What have we done?" Elijah whispers cradling the dead girl in his arms.
"You have survived." Esther replies as Mikael takes the young girl from Elijah, and leaves the room blowing out the candles on his way out.
"Try and wash up and get some sleep all of you. We have a long journey ahead of us." Their mothers states before following her husband leaving the Mikaelson siblings alone in the darkness.
No one dares to utter a word after their parents' departure, but simply obey their orders. Without words being spoken, Rebekah gets to her feet and walks to their small wash room. She is allowed to clean up first since she is the only girl besides their mother. Niklaus decides to lie down with his arms behind his head. No matter what evil he had done, he feels powerful. He loves the feeling of this, and wishes to keep it. He closes his eyes hoping to allow sleep to take him, but apart of him is unable to. Rising to his feet once he hears the soft drips of water stop, he waits out in the small hallway and Rebekah emerges with wet hair holding her bloody nightgown. HIs arms instinctively go around her tiny waist, and he cradles her head onto his shoulder.
"We will be okay, sweetheart." He says to her in a soft voice tilting her face so his eyes meet hers.
"I hope you are right, Nik." Rebekah replies as she steps away from her brother. This allows Niklaus to enter the washroom, and goes to the fire hoping to burn away her nightgown along this tragic night.
Once he is in the washroom he wastes no time in stripping away his bloody shirt and trousers. Niklaus feels his muscular chest and frowns when he finds no wound mark on his body. Testing his so called 'immortal life' he bites down into his wrist hissing only slightly when he draws blood. Disappointed, he sees blood flowing he beings to wash himself clean of the blood their father had created. When washing his legs he spots that his wrist to see that his bite earlier has healed. He grins at this victory humming to a tune he once heard Finn mutter. Dawn has approached once Niklaus leaves the washroom and Kol and Finn are next in line for cleaning up. Filthy animals Elijah had confined to Niklaus one afternoon when they discovered the two brothers didn't mind bathing near one another. Elijah was always one for proper hygiene which made Niklaus laugh. Walking to his room to change into another clean shirt he finds Elijah standing near the small framed hole that gives their room sunlight.
"Niklaus, this life is filled with nothing but darkness." He turns to Niklaus with a sad expression on his face.
"What are you babbling on about, brother? This life has given us a superior advantage to others." Niklaus argues putting his stockinged feet onto the small wooden table.
"A life in shadows," Elijah says once more before putting his hand into the sunlight. He hisses as his hand begins to turn blood red, and pulls his hand away, "We will burn if we set foot outside. Kol had tried it earlier."
Niklaus smirks at that, and the two brothers share a laugh. Kol deserved whatever he got to him.
"Where is our mother?" Niklaus questions to Elijah when he made his move to leave, but Elijah shrugs. "She and father are not here."
The screams of Kol erupted through the house and Niklaus and Elijah make their way to the sound of the noise faster than they have ever ran before. It seems as if only a second has gone by and they are standing in Rebekah's room. Niklaus couldn't be more happier seeing his younger brother on the floor by his dear sister.
"Niklaus, control your sister before she breaks off my arm!" Kol says struggling to free himself, but being turned into vampires has made her quite strong.
"What have you done now, Kol?" Elijah asks rubbing his chin with his free hand before laying his other on his sister's shoulder.
"He was in my room again." Rebekah spits in an angry tone putting more force onto Kol, but Elijah quickly works to soothe her temper.
"Didn't I warn you not to invade our sister's privacy?" Niklaus demands looking at Elijah with a deadly look. He pulls Rebekah away from Kol, and ushers her out of the room.
"Don't break anything of mine, Nik!" Rebekah hollers as she and Elijah disappear into another room.
"Come on, Nik! You can't be such a bore all the time. Live a little!" Kol replies getting up from the ground trying to reason with his older brother.
"I don't take you being in our sister's room very lightly, Kol." Niklaus blinks once, and takes a breath failing to realize he doesn't need to breathe.
"But you can sleep with her?" Kol challenges, narrowing his eyes.
"I protected her when you hurt her!" Niklaus screams in rage not even recognizing his own voice. It's deadly, cruel, and perfect.
"Well, no one is here to protect you." Kol says before charging at Niklaus.
Abiding to his sister's wishes, Niklaus has managed to to flee from her room in time to block his brother's blow. They didn't get that far in their fight until their heads start to pound with pain. Dropping to the floor, Rebekah rushes to Niklaus, and holds him while his agony continues.
"Mother, what is the meaning of this?" Finn asks going to his mother's side, and Niklaus would roll his eyes if he could. Such a mama's boy.
"As you all must have realized there are some side effects of vampirism that I didn't account for. Ayana made these for when the transformation was complete." Esther says holding out her hand to reveal five rings. "These rings are called Daylight Rings, and they will protect you from the sun. Keep them on at all times or you will burn and die." Their mother goes around to each child, and gives them a ring.
Gazing onto Niklaus and Kol she allows her spell to wear off, and puts the ring on their thumb. Niklaus's is a small black stone, and he is happy to see Rebekah has a small blue stone. It matches her little blue eyes perfectly. She looks to Niklaus, and he wants to believe she is thinking the same thing, and he winks at her. Their mother is a woman of not many words, and now that they are free to go out into the sunlight, Elijah has made a request to stroll around the village. Although Niklaus is still royally pissed at Kol, he will not upset his brother's wishes, and stays by Elijah and Rebekah. HIs first reaction to seeing the sun is that it stings his eyes. He puts his arm up to shield his eyes from the blinding sun, and focuses on the village. He feels a small hand take his and give a small squeeze. He looks down to see Rebekah smiling- a true smile he thought he would never see again- and smiles with her. This new world is full of strange smells they could never sense before, and sights they have never seen. The smell of dry hay and dead bodies fills Niklaus's nostrils, and he can hear the soft cries of another lad who has lost someone to the Black Death. Europe would never be the same after this horrid death again. Rebekah is staring quite intentionally at the sight of the dead flowers. He is about to ask her if she has gone mad, but then he spots it; a small pink bloom of a young flower in a land full of death and decay. Things are still able to grow, and there is hope for happiness once again.
"Come on! Let's not waste this precious day!" Rebekah yells in delight, running a tad slower in her dresses, with her brothers chasing her, and the townspeople look strangely at the Mikaelson siblings.
Niklaus gives a carefree laugh when Elijah challenges him to see who is faster as they run into the woods. Although the Black Death is still around them, the siblings are feeling nothing but happiness. They are all equals, and finally the family Niklaus has always wanted them to be. Elijah quickly catches up to Rebekah and grabs her around her arms-it was improper to grab a lady who was unmarried any other way Elijah always said- and gives a quick kiss on the cheek.
"You will have to be much faster than that, Bekah to beat your older brothers." Elijah teases jumping up to the third tree branch of an evergreen, and grins down at his younger siblings.
"You wouldn't give your baby sister a chance at winning?" Rebekah teases back with a small smirk to her cherry lips.
"Come now love it's all about the competition!" Niklaus replies to her and taking a seat on the tree branch one down from Finn.
"If it is all about the competition, how about a game of Rabbits and Bears to pass the time?" Kol smirks with a gleam of spark in his eyes. They will now have nothing but all the time in the world.
"You're on." Niklaus accepts the challenge, and they all begin taking off in different directions as Kol is now the Bear.
Niklaus runs far until he can not hear the sound of running feet, but somewhere he can faintly hear Elijah whispering to Rebekah, and her small laugh is covered by his hand. He smiles once more knowing they were all having fun. Taking a deep breath he can feel the hunger growing in his throat once more as he sees another Lockwood bleeding from a scratch of a tree. Rage accumulates through his body thinking about his rival who was somehow still living through the Black Death. Niklaus doesn't hesitate for a second before jumping on the lad, and pushing his full weight down on him. The other boy is surprised, and is too late before Niklaus bites into his neck, and fills his body with blood. Once he is dry and dead, Niklaus hollers in pain as his fingers start to bend in an unnatural direction. Then his wrist, arm, and legs give out from under him, and finally, he can hear his spine crack before he his eyes open, and a hollow escapes from his deep throat. He looks down to not see human hands, but black paws-something that belonged to what seemed like a wolf. Pain hits Niklaus on the side, and before he knows it, he is normal looking, and a vampire again. He looks up to see his father with eyes full of rage and hate.
"What in the hell are you? You're a monster, an abomination! " Mikael goes for another stake in the side, but Niklaus is faster than his human father.
Niklaus continues running, and running until he sees a small stream of river water. He can faintly hear Rebekah and Elijah calling to him telling him that it is Finn's turn to be the wolf, but he can not think of games right now. Taking the cool water in the palm of his hands, he splashes the water onto his face. He is a monster, an abomination, a freak, what would his dear siblings think? Then, Niklaus does the thing that surprises him most. He smiles. He is unnatural, stronger, powerful, superior than his siblings. All in all, that's just the way Niklaus would have it. He did say he would rise above them all, but he will rise above the world.