Answer to Mel's question, she's not going to remain as a little girl; she will eventually be an adult.

Chapter 7

Birthday

6 months later

Everyone seemed busy. I have seen people coming and going the whole day. But tomorrow would be a big day. Klaus' birthday. If I had understood correctly that was important to him. There would be a big celebration. I wasn't sure how old he was but I was sure that I was older. This birthday seemed like an interesting concept. Obviously I had never celebrated my birthday. I had learned a lot during the time I had spent here.

If I wasn't mistaken Elijah liked me and Klaus…well, I wouldn't say that he liked me but at least he seemed to be able to tolerate me. He wasn't so eager to find out my secrets anymore which I was very grateful. Perhaps he had got bored. Either way I tried to avoid him as much as I could. Right now I wanted to find some quiet place to read. I was tired of all the fuss.

I went to the library and nestled in front of the fireplace with my book. I wasn't alone for long when two men came in. I recognized the other one. He was one of Klaus' lackeys, Samuel, if I remembered correctly. He was a young vampire; he had a brown hair and green eyes. He had never paid much attention to me and I certainly didn't mind. The other man I hadn't seen before. Somehow I had a bad feeling about him. He seemed…sneaky.

"So Trevor", Samuel said. "What is this mysterious birthday gift you have for Klaus?"

Trevor grinned.

"That, my friend, is a secret, but I can tell you this much, tomorrow night I shall be Klaus' new favorite."

"Really now? Must be quite a gift then."

"You have no idea…" Trevor started before he noticed me. "Well, what do we have here?"

"Ignore her", Samuel said. "She is Elijah's pet and she is deaf and mute."

"His pet?" Trevor repeated. "Why would he keep a human pet, especially one that is so small?"

"Who knows. Some of the boys think that he is raising her to be his lover but why would anyone go through all that trouble when there are plenty of older ones just waiting to be picked."

"Hmm, that is certainly true, although it is kind of cute."

Trevor took few steps closer to me.

"Who is a pretty little human, you are, yes you are."

Seriously? I suppressed my urge to roll my eyes. He tapped my head.

"It can read?" he asked surprised.

"Yes, Elijah taught her", Samuel replied.

"What other tricks can it do?"

Samuel looked around cautiously.

"Not it, she. And you should be careful, if Elijah hears you talking to her like that you will loose your tongue."

"Because of a human?"

"Not just any human, Elijah's human. As I said, it is best to just ignore her. She can not understand a word you are saying anyway."

"Oh, you poor stupid girl. So you don't usually feed her or anything?"

"No, I do not even know what she eats. But we were talking about your gift. Come on, just give me a hint."

"No, you will have to wait until tomorrow night."

Trevor seemed very pleased with himself. I wondered what his gift was. They talked about some people I didn't know and laughed before they left. But of course Trevor had to tap my head again before that.

"Good little human."

And he called me stupid. I continued reading. There was something what they said that made me wonder though. About Elijah raising me to be his lover. What did that mean? I should definitely find that out. Was it like a spouse or something? I didn't know so much about humans mating habits. I knew how they breed but not how they choose their mates. And as far as I knew, vampires didn't breed like humans. But if he expected that from me, I must find out what it meant. I yawned. It was so nice and warm here. I almost fell asleep when Klaus walked in.

"Well, hello there", he said smiling. "Elijah is looking for you."

I nodded and stood up. I was heading to the door when he stepped in front of me.

"It is over midnight so it is my birthday. Do you know what that means?"

I nodded.

"And when might your birthday be, little girl?"

I just looked at him. He smiled.

"You know, it is customary to give a person a present on his birthday. Are you going to give me a present?"

Sure, why not. I took his hand and pulled it so he kneeled. I smiled and kissed his cheek. He seemed surprised. I walked out before he said anything.

"Annabelle."

I saw Elijah coming from the hall.

"There you are. You should be in bed by now, tomorrow is an important day."

I yawned again and he lifted me up. I leaned my head to his shoulder. He smiled at me gently.

"Time to go to sleep."

He carried me to my room and tucked me in.

"There are going to be a lot of people here tomorrow. I thought that maybe you would like to wear the dress that Niklaus bought for you."

I nodded.

"He loves birthdays; we always have a big celebration."

That sounded interesting. Klaus didn't seem like a person who would care about that kind of things. I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. Elijah smiled and kissed my forehead.

"Sweet dreams Annabelle."

I never had any dreams but I still needed to sleep. Tomorrow would be an interesting day.