Part 2
"Niklaus?" Elijah asked his brother later as they waited for the plane to go off.
"Can't they hurry already?" He growled in return.
"Do you actually believe this woman's tale?" Kol asked him.
None of them had ever seen their hybrid brother in this state. He was nervous and silent, more than he had ever been and they all could see that he was confused, worried even.
"I was with Leanne for only a week while her husband was out of town and she was bored but… It was different… I was never quite able to forget about her after that…" Klaus replied.
"Like…you loved her or something?" Rebekah asked him, confused.
"No, it wasn't like that… I wasn't in love or even intrigued by her… Leanne is way too ordinary and desperate for me to feel anything like this… She was just a good lay but… In the past 16 years I couldn't help but think about her once in a while, it was like an urge to look for her and find more about her life…" Klaus replied honestly to his siblings.
"You think this child is really yours?" Elijah asked.
"She's hardly a child Elijah… According to the dates she's almost 16." Rebekah commented.
"Fine… You think this teenage girl is yours then?" Elijah corrected.
"It seems impossible yet…" Klaus replied, letting the end of the sentence hang in the air.
"Yet you want to believe it." Kol finished for him.
"Well, stranger things have happened… You are the hybrid after all and werewolves can have children all the time…" Elijah commented.
"And it could make sense if it had happened after I broke my curse but this happened 16 years ago, my curse wasn't broken back then and it's the first I hear about a child…" Klaus protested.
"Maybe you did something different then…Did you compel her at all or feed from her like you always do when you have sex with a human?" Kol asked him.
"It is highly disturbing that you know your own brother's sex habits." Rebekah frowned.
"I…I didn't need to compel her, she accepted what I was and I didn't feed from her because… Well I had drunk a lot of human blood earlier and didn't feel the need to feed from her the first time and the other times I simply didn't want to break habits… She was a good lay and I figured I wanted her to be willing to come back to me without being afraid if I ever came back in the area…" Klaus explained.
"Maybe this mixed with you being a hybrid made it possible… Curse or not, it happened." Elijah suggested.
"I already called back my witch contact in LA, Derek. He'll be on his way to the address Leanne gave me with answers as soon as he gets them but he did say that it could be possible… he, too, said that being a hybrid might make it possible." Klaus replied before he glanced back outside.
The plane was now high in the sky and Klaus went back to looking outside, wondering if this girl could really be his child and what she would be like. Would she accept him? Would she give him the unwavering love a child always gave his parents or was it too late already?
She had probably loved a lot the father she had just lost. Would she be willing to accept another father in her life and in her heart?
.
"Mom… What is it?" Veronica asked her mother as she came back inside after walking Back-up.
Her mother was sitting on the couch of their small apartment and her bags were packed by her side. Dinner wasn't ready and everything was quiet.
"Veronica… We both know that I'm not the best mother there is and I'm not fit to take care of you… I just can't do it." Leanne told her daughter without trying to cover anything.
"What am I going to do then?" Veronica asked her mother as she cried.
Not only her best friend was dead but so was her father, the only one she had left after spending the past few months trying to solve the murder mystery that was her best friend's death. She hadn't even taken the time to try and make new friends. She had lost her old friends and worked her ass off to solve the case and now that it was done, she didn't even have her mother left. Mother for whom Veronica had spent all of her savings in a rehab center that Leanne had left long before the program was over.
"I have something to tell you Veronica… Keith was not your biological father." Leanne started and Veronica interrupted her.
"If you're trying to tell me that Jake Kane is my father and that I need to go live with them, with Celeste, in the house where my best friend died less than a year ago then you're deluded!" Veronica snapped at her mother as tears kept on running down her cheeks.
"No, he's not your father either… Listen Veronica, we both know that you're a very smart girl, you always have been so I hope that you'll believe the truth when I tell you that your father's name is Klaus. He's a thousand years old half vampire, half werewolf hybrid." Leanne spoke the words as calmly as she could and she could see that Veronica would need more than that to get convinced.
"Why are you doing this? Why can't you just tell me the truth? Who was he?" The crying girl yelled at the mother she had barely seen during the last year of her life.
"I am telling you the truth. Don't you find weird that you barely ever get sick? That you heal faster than anybody else when you cut yourself? Why do you think you were always smarter than everybody around you?" Leanne asked her.
"If what you're saying is true it means that I'm a quarter vampire and a quarter werewolf and yet nothing that weird happens to me, ever." The teenage girl tried to reason with her mother.
"I don't know why that is but maybe your father will be able to answer you. He should be here in a few hours, probably tomorrow morning."
"Why are your bags packed?" Veronica asked.
She figured that by now there was no more reasoning with her mother. She would deal with things the next morning with her father if he really came.
"I'm leaving… I never should have come back to begin with. You don't need me. Your father will handle everything." Leanne replied.
"You're going to leave me alone here until he arrives? What if someone else comes? What if something happens? How will I even know it's really him?" Veronica asked her mother incredulously.
"I have to go and you won't be alone, Back-up will be here with you. You know I hate this dog. As for your father… Well, he has a British accent, blond curly hair and blue eyes. He doesn't look older than 25. Also like every vampires he has fangs, you'll just have to ask him to show them to you. He won't be able to come inside without your personal invitation. I'm sorry Veronica, that's all I can do for you." Leanne declared before she grabbed her bags and left the apartment.
.
Veronica couldn't sleep that night.
Two days ago she was burying her father and today her mother was leaving her after announcing that her father wasn't who she thought he was.
Could she even believe the whole vampire story?
The teenage girl spent the night on her lap top, researching the name 'Klaus' and the word 'Vampire' together but it was the internet, out of several hundred thousand results, she'd be lucky if even one was true.
Every single noise made her jump and around 5 in the morning, she decided to stop pretending she was ever going to sleep and she took a shower, changed clothes and took Back-up for a walk before she fed him and served herself a big bowl of cereals.
She didn't know what to do now.
Should she contact the good for nothing sheriff and tell him that her mother left and that she was alone or should she call the social services directly? She figured that even if the vampire story was impossible, maybe her mother did speak partially the truth, maybe she did have a father on his way to take care of her and so she decided to wait until the beginning of the afternoon before she called anyone.
She definitely wasn't in the mood to hear Lamb bragging about being the best or giving her another of his Wizard of Oz pre made lame replies. She hadn't seen him since she solved Lilly's murder and her father died and she didn't want to see him ever again if she had the choice. Actually, if the vampire father story was true, she'd be tempted to ask him to feed on Lamb and make him suffer, just for the satisfaction of seeing that stupid satisfied smirk whipped off his face. And if vampire could control people's mind, maybe her father would be willing to compel the sheriff to go to work dressed like Dorothy for an entire week, that would definitely be fun to watch... If what her mother told her was the truth, which Veronica doubted greatly.
For about an hour she tried reading a book but it was no use, she couldn't concentrate on it, no matter how hard she tried. The words simply didn't register in her head, they didn't make sense, not tonight.
Then she tried watching the TV but she couldn't get herself to watch it either so she went to clean up her already spotless bedroom and she started going through her father's things, sorting between what she wanted to keep and what she could give out to Good will.
When 9 am arrived, Veronica was about to give up on staying inside in case someone came and take her dog for another walk, just for something to do, when someone knocked on the door and Back-up barked a couple of times to let her know that there was someone on the other side.
She could see the shape of 4 persons on the other side and it made her nervous.
"I've got it Back-up. Good boy." Veronica told him before she opened the door.
On the other side of the door stood three young men and a girl that probably wasn't much older than she was.
"How can I help you?" Veronica asked as she held Back-up by the collar.
"Is this where Leanne Mars lives?" The blond man asked and Veronica couldn't help but notice that he fitted her mother's description.
"She did until she left me here alone last night." Veronica nodded.
"Damn it, I told her to be there when I arrived!" The blond man cussed in anger and Veronica couldn't help but notice that it sounded a lot like a growl.
"We'll sort it out Niklaus, calm down. Now isn't the time to scare the girl." The brown haired man with a suit said calmly as he placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry but… Who are you?" Veronica asked, trying not to sound too rude.
"Before she left, didn't she tell you anything special… about someone named Klaus?" The blond man asked her again softly.
"She did…You're him aren't you?"
"I am… This is my younger sister Rebekah, my younger brother Kol and my older brother Elijah. I'm Niklaus, Klaus for short. A…gifted friend of mine is on his way with the necessary equipment to check if your mother's allegations are true." Klaus told her.
"Okay… She said that you were… I mean, is it true that you can't come inside without an invitation?" She asked him.
It was her subtle way of asking him if he, indeed, really was supernatural.
Klaus raised his hand and pressed it against the invisible protection of the front door, showing her how his palm pressed against the invisible barrier.
"It is." He replied.
"I… Oh, hell, what have I to lose anymore? Come on in." She told them as she stepped aside and let them inside.
Everyone entered and went to sit in the living room area.
"So… You're Veronica?" Klaus asked her after she had sat down in front of them.
She nodded nervously.
"Yes… I heard of you for the first time last night right before she left… My mother I mean..." She informed them as she watched her dog that was carefully sniffing the newcomers.
"Is your dog…friendly?" Kol asked her.
"Seriously brother? You're a thousand years old vampire with a hybrid werewolf for a brother and this dog scares you?" Rebekah rolled her eyes.
"Back-up is pretty friendly to anyone who is nice to me but he can get pretty protective if someone either attacks me or starts shouting at me." Veronica replied and Kol nodded before he carefully started petting the dog that seemed to enjoy it and sat down by Kol's side, placing his head on Kol's lap.
"Your mother said something about you healing faster than normal humans… Maybe that's something we can check out now before Derek arrives with answers…" Elijah suggested.
"No, you don't have to hurt yourself!" Klaus replied, glaring at his older brother.
"Oh… Don't worry, it's okay. It's no trouble..." Veronica nodded before she walked in the kitchen, grabbed a knife and cut the palm of her hand.
They all watched as the cut healed quickly. It was slower than for a vampire but quicker than a human.
"I think there is some truth in this story Niklaus…" Elijah told his hybrid brother.
"Just look at her! She has Mother's eyes." Rebekah added.
"This is so messed up!" Veronica exclaimed as she paced the room.
"What do you mean?" Elijah asked her since his brother, Klaus, seemed to be unable to move or say anything as the truth made its way into his brain.
"I just spent the last few months busting my ass to solve my best friend's murder mystery, losing all my friends in the process. I got raped and told by the lame sheriff that stole my father's job to go see the wizard and ask for some backbone when I went to report it only to find out after I investigated it on my own that I was drugged by a girl that I hate and rapped by a boy I was one of the rare people to be nice to. Two days ago I buried the only person who's always been there for me only to learn that he wasn't really my father by my mother who couldn't stick around me more than 3 days before she bolted out the door, probably taking all of the money left with her since it didn't seem to be enough for her to make me use all of my savings on a useless rehab center for her. It shouldn't be like this! It's not supposed to be this way! Why does it keep on happening to me? What did I do?" Veronica cried and they all felt bad for her.
She couldn't hold it together anymore, she was breaking down in front of this people she had just met and she couldn't stop herself. She hadn't meant to tell them about her rape but she hadn't been able to hold it in, it just came out along with the rest. She felt strangely at ease with these people, capable of trusting them.
Suddenly, surprising everyone, Klaus stood up and awkwardly took the crying teenager in his arms, comforting her.
Klaus just couldn't bare the sight of her crying, taking this young girl in his arms and comforting her was instinct, it came naturally to him and it was all he needed to know that Leanne had told the truth. He would still need his witch friend to tell them how it was possible and what Veronica was exactly but he knew right then and there that she was his daughter, that he needed to take care of her, to protect her.
He also knew that people needed to pay for raping her. The girl who drugged her, the sheriff who had mocked her and the boy who had abused her. These three people would die and he only needed one look shared with his sister to know that she agreed and would be taking care of it. It fitted her whole "us girls need to stick together and have each other's back".
"It's going to be alright sweetheart, I promise you. I'm here now and I will make it all better." Klaus whispered in her ear as she clung to him as if her life depended on it.
"Brother?" Rebekah asked, not wanting to break the moment but needing to know what was going on.
"I can just feel it… I know she's my daughter. We'll still ask Derek to do the spell but I'm pretty sure we won't be surprised." Klaus told them.
"Are you sure?" Veronica asked him in a small voice.
"I can feel it. Now come on, you look exhausted. Why don't you go take a nap until my witch friend gets here and we can know more?" He asked her.
"I need to take Back-up for a walk." The young detective protested weakly.
"Do you trust me?" Klaus asked her.
"Of course I do." She nodded.
For someone with trust issues, she did trust him more than she had ever trusted anybody else, Keith included.
"Then you go and get some sleep Sweetheart, I'll stay right here and one of your uncles will take your dog for a walk." Klaus suggested in a soft, caring tone that surprised everybody.
"I'll do it. I think he likes me." Kol offered.
Veronica smiled and thanked them before she went in her bedroom and got in bed, leaving her door opened behind her. She wanted to keep an ear on them, to know if they were going to leave her behind too or not.
Second part...
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Lorelei Candice Black