Chapter 1:

The second he laid eyes on her, he knew that was damned. His chalk covered fingers tapped frantically against the teacher's desk while he thought of ways to get inside of her head but for some unknown reason he found himself unable to think. He was amazed she even existed, captivated by her original beauty despite being a doppelganger. She wore a beautiful ring around her finger that he recognized, but it escaped his mind from where. He recalled babbling over the sixties before class was dismissed and before his eyes met hers directly. "That ring." He said in his best impression of the teacher, "Beautiful. What is it?"

"It's my grandmother's ring! I told you last month, remember? Romani women wear lots of jewelry for the most part, but I decided I only needed this ring to remind me during the day." Romani… Klaus thought to himself. He recollected his memories of gypsies and beautiful women, seductive looking but absolutely pure. He admired the culture immensely. "Is that all?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later." He nodded before Elena walked away from him. His head was filled with the rules of the Romani culture… the girl had never been kissed, never been touched by a man if she was a true Romani woman. She was marrying age, in five years she would be considered an old maid. She was beautiful and had something unique about her that set her apart from the other girls.

He didn't want to know anything about her, but for some reason he kept digging into her personal life.

XXX

Stefan asked her to go to the dance with him, even when he knew she wouldn't accept his offer. She decided at her age, she couldn't attend the dances anymore without a good reason. It would only complicate things. She could barely enjoy herself when every gadjo was looking at her like she was the prized pig. Everyone knew she was a virgin, but barely anyone knew the reason why. Her father had a thing against dropping the fact they were gypsies to everyone in the town. He thought it created a trust problem amongst the community.

Alaric walked through her house door, throwing his jacket on the coffee table. "Hey." She called as he rushed upstairs. "Jenna's waiting for you!"

"Elena, I just woke up on the floor in my apartment with some crazy witches surrounding me. I- I need a minute."

"Okay." She stood up, "Explain."

"Klaus…" He breathed heavily, "Took over my body. He's been walking around town doing god knows what, with god knows who and that really freaks me out."

"That wasn't you this morning in class?" She paled a little, "I had a conversation with Klaus… oh my god." She couldn't believe she'd talked to her future killer.

"Personally, I thought it would try to ruin the dance tonight because it definitely fit his profile. For some reason, he was eager to get into his own body, not that I'm complaining." Alaric paused, "You had a conversation with Klaus? How was it?"

"Normal."

XXX

"You must have met Elena today?" Katherine's snide voice rang through Klaus' concentration. He had twenty books about Romani culture scattered across Alaric's broken and chipped desk. "What? Gypsy got your tongue?"

"Be quiet." Klaus said without emotion in his voice. "Or I will kill you." Katherine didn't have a choice when it came to being quiet. She had to follow his command because of his compulsion. That didn't mean she wasn't thinking of cruel things to say to him. She watched him glide through the books until he was once more acquainted with the culture. "You can speak again." Klaus had become bored with the silence.

"If you're so charmed by her beauty, then why don't you join me in the bedroom?" Katherine laughed sensually as she approached him. It was the typical Katerina Petrova persona that helped shield her from impending death for 500 years. "We all share the same face."

"Are you jealous that your Stefan likes her?"

"Why would I be jealous? I've had Stefan. He'll come back to me." She said surely, "That is, if you let me go." Klaus rolled his eyes as she stepped closer, "So what do you say?" She tried to kiss him but he shoved her away.

"You need to find another trick to save your life." He walked out of the door into the apartment building where he passed people he didn't care about. Their faces were irrelevant, their lives holding less worth than a minute of his time. Yet, he imagined Elena knew their names, and their grandparent's names along with their favorite color because of the size of the town. He imagined she tried to know them whereas he didn't give a damn.

Katherine was right, he was ultimately fascinated by Elena. She had the beautiful looks that he'd always desired. But she had the innocence he always needed, the heart that he always longed for and a strong hold on her own individuality. She was like a magnetic, drawing him to her in the middle of the night. He was a fool to embrace the beginnings of attraction when he knew how the story ended.

He walked the streets in his body, remembering his youth. His father beating him like a dog, the irony of that statement didn't escape him. His father trying to drown him, trying to hurt him- he spent his entire life hating him. It brought him great pleasure to know he was rotting in North Carolina where Mikael could not hurt his doppelganger.

If Klaus traced back his bloodline far enough, his family would also be considered Romani. Romani woman have "the gift" to see the future and that comes from traveler heritage. Traveler heritage is a branch of witchcraft, his mother was a witch- actually, the original witch. He'd been living the Romani bachelor life for the better part of a thousand years. Sure, he never embraced the Romani life but a sweet Romani girl could convince him to delve into his inner gypsy.

Again, foolish thoughts.