"And death, as the sole means of reviving love for herself in his heart, of punishing him, and of gaining the victory in that contest which an evil spirit in her heart was waging against him, presented itself clearly and vividly to her " Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

Chapter Eleven: Anna, Katerina.

1897– 1900

Klaus had a sudden urge to travel the world. He had bought a new steam clipper. He named it The Eleanna. But I wasn't impressed. It was quite big with twenty stately cabins, all luxuriously furnished. We would sail down the East Coast, stopped over at Atlanta and then to New Orleans and further down the West Indies, proceeding down to Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and the South American continent till we reached the tip of Patagonia up the coast of Chile, Mexico and heading to San Francisco and then sailing across the Pacific, to Yokohama Japan. Klaus was like Phileas Fogg, going around the world in eighty days… No. Actually it took more than that. 18 months of sea travel.

"Can we go to India?" I asked my husband one evening.

The clipper was sailing down the East China Sea and crossing to China. We would stay in Shanghai, a bustling, busy metropolis. Klaus had one of his contacts acquired a lovely Victorian house for us in the British concession part of the city.

"Anywhere you wish to Darling," Klaus smiled. He pulled me in his arms and kissed me as we stood on the boat's deck just staring at the ocean.

Shanghai was a beautiful, yet strange city. It was Chinese, but where we lived in the International Settlement, the only Chinese people present were the servants, drivers, housekeepers and nannies of the foreign expatriates. Only foreigners were allowed to live and enjoy the facilities in the International Settlement. White foreigners, the British, American, Danes and Germans. They were snobs all of them, sneering their noses down on anyone local and of a different color and race. Klaus thought it ridiculous. This prejudices people have.

"Humans are strange Darling…Each and every one of them thinking that they are superior to the next. Of course the truth is none of them are. Only the chosen ones, vampires or Lycanthropes even the petty werewolves." He said lazily one evening.

"It's the same isn't it…" I commented and rolled my eyes. "You have your prejudices too…"

"Oh Darling…Blood tastes the same to me regardless. White, yellow, black and brown. They all taste the same…" Klaus laughed. He stood up and bent to kiss my neck with such sensual passion.

"Except yours of course…" He whispered. "Your blood tastes sweet and rich, better than the finest aged wine."

I winced as Klaus fangs pierced through my skin and sucked my blood. I relaxed while my husband lifted me in his arms and carried me up to the bedroom where he made love to me with such delicate tenderness it made me want to cry out of boredom.

I was reading Anna Karenina one day when Klaus brought Annabelle home. Such a coincidence really that I would meet a girl with the same name as the novel's tragic protagonist. It was the first time I met her. Klaus had ran into her in the club house. She was a lovely girl who looked to be about sixteen, Eurasian looking with big almond shaped brown eyes and angelic pretty face that looked so innocent and sweet. She was also almost a three hundred year old vampire. Anna as she wanted to be known, knew Katerina.

In fact, Katerina had turned Anna's mother Pearl who in turn, turned her. They had been traveling together for centuries before heading to Mystic Falls. Their identities were found out by the local human population, who with the help of witches sought to exterminate the vampire threat.

"Katherine put all of us in danger. She played with the Salvatore brothers and that led to all the vampires' capture." Anna told us after dinner.

It was sad, really how Anna's mother died in the fire along with 26 other vampires. All because Katerina was an evil slut vampire who only thought of herself. Manipulating both Salvatore brothers, everyone had to pay for her lustful games.

"She's always been a sly wench," Klaus remarked as he smoked his cigar. He then smiled at Anna. "Don't worry dear Annabelle, you will be safe with us."

I knew that Klaus had no sexual designs on Anna. He merely wanted a younger vampire to follow him around, someone he could mentor. I supposed Klaus always wanted to play a fatherly role and since, we could not conceive and that his relationship with Lexie had soured. He focused all he could on Anna, teaching her all that he knew. About vampires, Lycanthropes and werewolves. Anna was also good company and I was grateful that I had her as a companion. The precious two years with Anna was something I would cherish.

I was seeing less and less of my sister. Klaus had taken me to a Chinese medicine practitioners, one was well versed in the art of acupuncture and used that to cure my addiction from opium. He also fed me his blood and that made me addicted to him in a way that was almost obsessive. I grew jealous and possessive of any woman Klaus would have his eye on. I hated them, thinking that they would take him away from me.

I came home one afternoon and found out that Klaus was making love to one American lady in one of the guestrooms. She was beautiful, the mistress of the American ambassador. Virginia Anderson had beautiful raven black hair and eyes that were blue, deep blue like mine. I stared as I stood at the doorway, watching as she was on top my husband, riding him like he was a horse. She was moaning like a harlot and I strode on, bawled my fist into her and pulled it tight and painfully. Virginia yelped and screamed in pain.

"You stupid bitch!" I screamed at her. She turned and looked at me. Klaus immediately pushed her off.

"You whore!" I yelled angrily. "Get away from him!"

"Elly stop it!" Klaus snapped angrily. But I didn't care I lunged at Virginia ready to attack the woman. Klaus pulled me away.

Virginia hissed at me and I saw her eyes, flashing blue. I was surprised when she suddenly transformed into a wolf, ready to strike. She was a Lycanthrope.

"Ginny! If you harm one hair on my wife I will rip your heart out." Klaus warned her, shielding me away from the Lycanthrope.

The female wolf snarled and barked at me and I breathed heavily, too shocked to react. Klaus pulled me in his arms and I just rest against him. Klaus then told me that Virginia was his new mistress. His concubine. His Lycanthrope mate. I was crying furiously on the bed when he told me that Virginia would live with us and I had no choice but to accept it.

"I don't understand...what do you mean she's your Mate Niklaus!" I screamed fitfully.

"She's a Lycanthrope and I am half Lycanthrope. We mated the way wolves do..."

"But you can't transform anymore..." I sobbed.

"I had her blood and she had mine. It's a sacred Lycanthrope tradition Elly. She's like my wife now."

"NO!" I screamed. "I'm your wife Niklaus! Your only wife."

"Of course you still are Darling..." He sighed.

"Then why her?" I asked him starkly. Klaus gave me a hesitant look and I knew something was wrong. "What is it Niklaus?"

"She is with child Elly..." Klaus murmured. "Mine."

"No..." I cried again. "You're lying..." I went to him and beat on his chest. "Stop lying to me...she's not pregnant..." I sobbed.

"She is Elly..." Klaus said softly and looked into my eyes. "I'm finally going to be a father..."

I just sank on the floor hearing that, crying brokenly as I held my husband's legs. Klaus had made his mistress pregnant . He finally succeeded in becoming a father, all he had to do was to mate a Lycanthrope. Klaus bent down and held me in his arms as I cried. Was it truly over? Did he not love me anymore? Am I just nothing to him? Eight hundred and sixty years together gone with the wind...

"Are you going to leave me Klaus?" I asked him, after my sobs had lessened. We were on the floor. Klaus had leaned against chair's legs, while I lied there in his arms, a complete, emotional mess.

"Don't be silly Elly," He chided me and ran his fingers through my hair. "Virginia is my concubine, my mistress and mother to my unborn child. You are still my wife."

"So this is my punishment then..." I breathed. I was irrevocably heartbroken. "To suffer while you love another and have a child with her."

"I don't love her Elly..." Klaus spoke. "I'm attracted to her, in lust with her lupine beauty and her nature. She fascinates me..." He laughed softly. "She's just different. Ginny is wild and raw and passionate."

"Oh God..." I groaned. "Kill me Klaus please. I cannot take this..."

"No Darling..." He smiled and held my face gently. "You will put up with this."

"I want a divorce." I told him angrily. "No woman should be made to humiliate like this!"

"Like you said my Love...this is your punishment for the indiscretions you've committed against me. I'm just keeping my word Elly..." Klaus spoke firmly and kissed my head.

I hated Virginia, even more than I did Klaus. She was in my eyes, a whore, a disgraced woman, a two headed snake. A vicious, mean, manipulative bitch. She was also very spoilt. She demanded her own room to be as big as mine and on the same floor. She wanted the most lovely and expensive gowns and her own carriage. Virginia was also very clingy with Klaus. She couldn't be away from him, throwing a fit each time he would leave her to be with me. I never had such a malicious rival before and now I had met her. She had a way with Klaus. Such a pussycat and a vicious she-wolf. Klaus also seemed to be under her spell. He would be with her almost all the time. My heart felt like it was stabbed over and over again with a blunt knife.

I watched as I stood in my bedroom, seeing Virginia and her swollen belly in the gardens with my husband. It killed me how affectionate he was with her. She wanted Klaus to touch it. It would be a boy, Virginia had said. She was sure of it.

"You need to kill her..."

I turned around and stared at my sister. Karina gave me a sly smile. "You need to get rid of her Elly...he is falling in love with her. You are going to lose your husband..."

"I want her dead..." I seethed angrily.

"Poison her Elly..." Karina spoke. She then looked at the bottle of raw opium that was on the table and I looked at it too. "Poison her and the child she carries..."

"Klaus will never forgive me..." I said to my sister. I did thought about it. Pouring the poison in Virginia's morning tea. She would wince in pain and then her face would grow pale and she would start to bleed and the baby would be gone. I had played that over and over again in my mind.

"If the child is born you will lose Klaus forever..." Karina whispered.

I kept quiet hearing it. So be it... I could not take an innocent child's life. I needed to have some principle in me. Some lines just should not be crossed. But I knew I couldn't stay in the same house with Klaus and Virginia. Maybe he would really be happy with Virginia and his child and maybe I could be happy too away from him. I went to Anna's room later and told her my plans. I needed to run away and seek out a new life. Anna was hesitant but she finally agreed to help me. She did not like Virginia too.

We took a train to Peking and traveled further in land to Russia by train. The newly operated Trans Siberian railway was not quite efficient. We need to cross the River Lena by a steam boat before getting on the next train that would lead us to St Petersburg. Anna would feed, victims from the private compartments next to us but she did not kill any of them. When we reached St Petersburg weeks later, Kael was there to greet me. I just fell in his arms, happy and relieved he was there.

Kael had a grand estate outside the city. It was a beautiful house, that looked like a French chateau. He came into the bedroom when I had finally settled. Kael smiled at me. "You're finally here...with me..."

"Klaus has a new wife now..." I said. "I am nothing to him. Eight hundred and sixty years we were together...and then nothing..." I sighed sadly and looked out of the window.

"Eleanna..." Kael walked to me and pulled me in for a warm embrace. "It doesn't matter. I'm here. Everything will be well."

Kael smiled and pulled away. He saw the copy of Anna Karenina on the desk. "I'll be your Vronsky then. You'll leave that husband of yours and run away with me."

I laughed softly and shook my head. "I don't want to get run over by the train."

Anna was quite uncomfortable being with the Lycanthropes but they left her alone. She started to explore the city by herself and met a fellow young American. Anna had fallen in love. It was a rather whirlwinded romance. When Anna told me that that her fellow had proposed two weeks later and that she would follow him to San Francisco, I was upset. It was just too sudden, I felt so alone and yet I was happy for her. Anna deserved to be happy. I hugged her at the port. The steamship would take them across the Baltic, stopping at Stockholm and Oslo before going to Dublin and then to America.

"I'm so happy for you Anna..." I told her as I hugged her. Tears flowing from my eyes. "If anyone deserves this. It's you."

"I'm happy too..." Anna smiled when she pulled away. She wiped my tears and kissed my cheek. "You deserve to be happy Elly. Don't forget that. You deserve so much better than him."

I smiled and gave a nod and hugged Anna tightly again. She got on the steamer with her fiance and I waved at her while she waved. It was always that way. I would always be making friends and losing them. As sad as it was. Such was my life. Anna and I wrote to each other. It was then Anna confessed to me the whole truth that Katerina was still alive. She had escaped the fire and was somewhere in America. I kept it to myself, never telling anyone. I could not let Klaus find out. The moonstone was in Katerina's possession and Klaus could use that to break the curse.

I wrote to Lexie as well. She was well in San Francisco. Living with Aidan whom she had grown to love as a good friend. She told me that Klaus was searching for me. Thinking that I had gone to India. He went there, causing quite a rampage. My days with Kael were simple ones. I'd watch as he carve his wood and worked in his work shop. He had still not touched me. He knew I was still not over Klaus, still married to him.

I would take walks around the estate and later the city. I told Kael, that I needed my own apartment in St Petersburg and he agreed. He had servants to serve me, my own carriage and a coachman. I even had a fluffy Pomeranian to keep me company, one named Nikola and a dedicated tutor Kael had hired to teach me Russian. I went to the railway station one day. I had to see Kael off. He had to travel to Frankfurt for business and he would be away for weeks. Kael had insisted that I should go with him but I did not want to, still reluctant to return to Europe. It would just remind me so much of Klaus.

Kael hugged me and I let him kissed my lips. He pulled away and touched my face gently. "I will make love to you when I return Eleanna..." Kael told me in a serious voice, his blue eyes never leaving mine. "I think it's finally time for us."

I kept quiet and gave a nod. I didn't really know what else to say. I watched as the train pulled away and Kael waving at me and then I sat on the bench at the railway station for hours just thinking about my life. Mostly about Klaus and how I had missed him and how miserable I was without him. I felt empty, hollow, numb.

I saw a train pulling in and I walked towards it, stepping on the platform. I wondered what would happen if I throw myself in front of it. My life had no meaning, Klaus was in love with another, building a family of his own and I couldn't imagine myself without him. I was his one true wife. I closed my eyes, ready to fall. My body leaned forward and I tipped but someone had pulled me back just as I was about to fall onto the track right in front of the locomotive. Possessive strong arms held me close.

"No...Elly..." Klaus whispered to me as I leaned against the softness of his coat. "You cannot leave me Darling. Didn't I tell you...You and me it's for eternity..."

Klaus lifted me up in his arms and brought me on the carriage. He then brought me to a hotel across town that was near the Winter Palace. The suite was grand and luxurious but I didn't care. All I did was to cry on the bed. Crying like I never did before, letting it all out.

"Let me die Niklaus. Please..." I sobbed. "I can't bear it. I can't take it anymore."

"You know I will not let it happen Elly." He told me harshly. "You're my wife."

"Why do you need me?" I asked him. "You have Virginia now. You have your own child."

"Mikael sent her to me." Klaus spoke and I stared at him in disbelief. It just seemed so incredible. Kael had sent her?

"She was never pregnant with my child Elly. I knew it from the start. I was just playing along...I wanted to see where it will all lead..."

"No..." I uttered. Kael? He would do that? Why would he? Just so he could have me... Kael would stoop to such a level. He would have me brokenhearted so he could play the hero and fix it. That was not an honorable thing to do. I did not think I could ever forgive him for that.

"Anyway the bitch is dead...and her unborn child along with her...I killed her." Klaus said casually. He then looked at me.

"How could you Elly? How could you not trust what we had!" Klaus suddenly screamed. I was taken a back by his sudden fury.

"Do you think that I would put someone else before you! That I would love another like I do you!" Klaus got furious and I watched as he went on his rampage throwing and destroying pieces of furniture in the grand hotel suite. I trembled seeing his unbridled rage let loose.

"You would even run straight to your lover when you had the chance!" Klaus gritted angrily and stared at me.

"He is not my lover! Nothing happened Niklaus." I told him.

"You were going to start a life with him..." Klaus said as his eyes glared at me furiously.

"No..." I shook my head. "I wasn't.." I went up to him and touched his face. Klaus flinched and moved away. "I was going to kill myself...I could not stand it if you love another. My heart could not take it Klaus. I would rather die..."

I embraced him. "If you don't believe me, kill me then..." I said softly. "You'll be doing both of us a favor Niklaus...we won't be cursed anymore...You'll be free and I will be dead..."

He pulled away and looked at me. "I can't Sweetheart. We will always be cursed Eleanna...Me and you, you and I. Nothing will change that."

Klaus kissed me deeply and I kissed him back. He brought me to the bed and made love to me. I responded with such bursting passion, that I cried when we reached our peak together. He kissed me again as I lied in his arms, shivering as it was a cold autumn night. I hadn't seen Klaus in five months and I had thought that I would lose him to another. Did I really have no faith in my husband? I did not realize how affected Klaus was by it. How much I had probably hurt him.

I had always thought Klaus was immune to pain. Guess I had been wrong. He felt pain too, even monsters do. And he would react more furiously than anyone else would. Because Klaus hated to feel anything. He had tried to shut it down, that part of him, part of him that could hurt. I was his greatest weakness. It wasn't vervain or that he could not transform into his wolf form anymore and that he had been cursed. It was me. Klaus was right. Love is a vampire's greatest weakness.

"Maybe you shouldn't love me..." I told him as we lied in bed that night, naked and sated under the covers. I touched his face gently. "Loving me has cursed you Niklaus..." I sighed.

Klaus kissed my hand that had touched his cheek and kissed my lips tenderly again. "I tried to, believe me. I tried so much not to love you Elly..."

Klaus smiled and nuzzled my nose. "But I couldn't Darling. You are part of me. So deep inside of me. It hurts when you're not around. When you left, it felt like I was ripped in half...I have no heart Elly..."

He took my hand and let it touch his chest. "No beating heart but yours..." Klaus then touched my left breast where my heart was beating.

"Oh...Niklaus..." I sighed and kissed him sweetly. "Why didn't you tell me about Virginia and the baby and that it wasn't real?"

"I suppose I wanted to hurt you..." Klaus spoke pensively. "Revenge for that affair you had decades ago."

"I even hoped that maybe you'd try to kill her and the baby..." He gave an evil smile. "I put the bottle of raw opium in your room on purpose."

"I couldn't. I thought it was your child. I didn't want to see you in pain..." I told him in a mournful tone.

"You love me still?" Klaus said and looked at me closely.

"Of course I do..." I told him and looked at him deeply. "Body and soul Niklaus...forever. That's how much I love you..." I kissed him softly. "How much I will always love you."

Klaus kissed me again and pulled me close. I still shivered and he pulled the covers over the both of us. I snuggled close in his arms and planted a kiss on his chest where his heart was. It wasn't beating but it didn't matter. Maybe I had enough heart for the both of us.