Rebekah laid in bed that night, thinking about all the information she had gathered. Elena was a complete mystery to her; perhaps not in the literal sense… Rebekah now knew everything about her… She knew all about her parents and Wickery Bridge, how it was Elena's fault they were even out driving in the first place. She learned about Jenna Sommers, the sister to the mother who Elena had lost, who was just about to turn 30, who had assumed such responsibility over the young girl… She was astounded at the strength of this girl, and her guardian.
'It must have something to do with the Petrova bloodline' Rebekah thought pensively to herself. So much about this girl reminded her of her beloved Katherine. She hated that term… beloved. It felt like her tongue wrapped around her heartstrings every time the word even presented itself to her thoughts.
It was like a quick jab of a blade into her abdomen, like a wooden steak being driven full kilter into her chest, and being twisted slightly. Beloved wasn't the right word to use in context of Katherine Petrova... Katherine was not her beloved, she had been Elijah's beloved. She had hated that girl for tearing her most intellectual brother away from her.
Katherine Petrova had been the most annoying brat of a human, and she made an even more annoying vampire. Constantly sticking her unbelievably annoying nose where it didn't belong, ruining plans that had taken decades of planning and for what? Just to get back at her, Rebekah Mikaelson.
"What is happening to me?" Katherine asked having just been stabbed, and her neck broken. Rebekah could feel the faint pulse quicken as an unfathomable wave of unease sank into Katherine's bones. Rebekah stood there and laughed at her. It was quite a sight to behold, the transformation that was unfolding.
"Well I figured since you have such an affinity for our kind, that you might as well become one!" Rebekah jested, leaning down to the restrained figure. She loved to see her squirm against the vervained ropes that had her bound to the chair. Something so, dare she say, erotic about the struggle between allowing oneself to remain restrained; or fighting to become free.
"Yourkind? What is that to even mean?" The poor form twisted at the ropes but to no avail, each time the ropes dug in to Katherine's skin, the vervain burned her flesh. Rebekah didn't usually like to torture new vampires… No in fact for the majority of it, she enjoyed leading them to their first kill, teaching them how to hunt, and feed. Perhaps it was a greater mothering instinct she possessed- one she would never be able to use.
"Don't speak to me as if you don't know precious Katherine! As if Elijah hasn't told you!" Rebekah spat, turning towards the door of the little shack which they were currently in. It wasn't a palace, but for this; it would do. She reached the door and opened it a crack.
"It is quite a beautiful day!" Rebekah said in mock surprise and joy, and with one swift flick of her wrist the door flew open. Engulfing Katherine Petrova's entire body in sunlight. The sun ripped at her flesh, burning her. And Rebekah just laughed, and shut the door.
"Sunlight tends to be a vampire's biggest problem. The biggest tell that we have… It's painful- and if you're out in it for too long: fatal." Rebekah chimed once Katherine's sobs had finally subsided. The girl looked terrified, perhaps she feared the coming of her second death, as she should. Rebekah was not known to be merciful when it came to torturing her prisoners to death.
"V-vampires?" Katherine sputtered feverishly, the look of terror had not been for a death she had been expecting- but more for an eternity she had not.
Rebekah snapped back to the present. Vampires rarely found the need to sleep, often just drifting into "memory-revisitation". That's what Rebekah called it. When she laid down, and remained still for long enough, she could recall any memory she wanted; every moment she had ever experienced, she could recall, and relive. She reflected on this memory often- The night she had created the insufferable nuisance that was Katherine Petrova.
Dawn was quickly approaching, but Rebekah knew she had enough time to revisit one more memory before the beginning of the new day. This one quite a bit newer, and right at the forefront of her current memory staple.
Rebekah sat in the courtyard and listened to Elena's sweet voice. She looked so much like Katherine, but she was not at all like her at the same time. Their voices were different even… Katherine's much harsher, and Elena's melodious and graceful. Rebekah listened to her talk, not necessarily to what she was saying of course, but to the way her breath was slipping past her lips.
The sunlight shone off her brown hair, bringing out all the natural highlights and lowlights, and the different individual hairs that Rebekah could see with such clarity. This doppelganger, was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen; And it scared her a bit. To find perfection and beauty in someone who looked the exact same as someone she hated.
Rebekah revelled in the humanity this girl possessed. The way her heart beat, her blood pumped, her eyes blinked. Everything about her seemed so much more than it truly was. Rebekah reached out and caressed her caramel singed skin, feeling how soft it was. She delighted in the pinkish tinge that surfaced against the cheeks. Her thumb stretched out, and traced the bottom lip of this girl.
"You're beautiful." Rebekah had whispered barely audible, looking into Elena's face. The eyes were the same as Katherine's, but these possessed a compassion, and warmth and love that was forever going to be missing from Katherine's. Rebekah dropped her hand, and cleared her throat.
"Shall we continue the tour then?"
Rebekah knew this was a memory that she was going to revisit many times over her life. In all of her years, which there were over a thousand of, no one had ever made her feel human before… But in that moment, with the one and only Elena Gilbert, she had felt it. Human. A feeling that she had been missing for quite some time. Why this girl, and why now?
She didn't have time to ponder all the complexities, she really had to get up and get herself moving. She wanted to dress to impress because today was her first official day, and it was germane that she made a good impression on Elena and her friends. She settled for jeans and a flowing floral top. She wasn't really sure what the trends for this decade were, but if this wasn't it, she would compel someone of status to think that it was.
She just needed Elena to notice her, to recognize her… something- ANYTHING. She just wanted her attention, all of it. Undivided. Rebekah knew that even an ounce of Elena's attention was going to be a far-cry due to her "new" status. She wondered if things ever changed… If the social constructs were still the same as they always had been. Did mystery still win out over majesty?
She got into her car and drove the winding road to town, crossing over the Wickery Bridge, and making her way further into town. She had a new-found curiosity about this bridge… She didn't know whether she hated it, or loved it. On one hand it had robbed Elena of her parents, and on the other, created the person that Rebekah had become so fond of. The battle between the two consumed her until she reached the parking lot of Mystic Falls High School.
"Well here we go." She said taking a deep breath, letting the warm sun cascade over her body as she almost marched confidently through the front doors. Today was her day- Hell, every day was her day.
This was the mantra she repeated to herself inwardly while weaving through the halls that were full of teenagers. Living, breathing teenagers. Rebekah almost broke, the sounds of delicious warm blood flowing through the hundreds of bodies around her was driving her mad. She felt thirst, hunger. She was so hungry, and it would be quite simple to follow a girl into a bathroom and get her fill- and for a split second she watched a solitary girl who nobody but her noticed dart inside the restroom.
She seized the opportunity slipping in to the washroom silently behind her. She waited for the girl to exit the stall, Rebekah grabbed the girl by the arm and held her ferociously against the wall. She looked this girl deep in the eyes and held her gaze.
"You will not scream, you will not remember any of this." Rebekah ordered, and the girl simply shut her mouth, and nodded. Rebekah sunk her teeth down into this girl's jugular, drinking her blood. She was awash with the small high she received, feeling tendons and muscles throb beneath her teeth as liquid humanity rolled down her throat.
It only took a few minutes of this for Rebekah's hunger to be satisfied, and she released the girl from her mouth. She looked into her eyes again, "If anyone asks that mark is from your dog, he attacked you this morning." Rebekah said leaning over to the sink, and dampening a paper towel. She placed the moist paper to the girl's neck, cleaning up her mess. Rebekah tidied her up, and made her look presentable.
"Say good things about me when people ask, tell them that I was incredibly interesting and a joy to talk with, understood?" Rebekah ordered, looking this girl dead in the eyes. The girl nodded, and with that Rebekah released her from the washroom, and rinsed her mouth out with water. Once all the blood was gone from her mouth, she herself left the bathroom.
She walked to her locker, the smell of live people doing nothing to her now. She stopped, and opened the locker and placed her bag in it. Today was going a whole lot smoother than she had anticipated. She grabbed her Data Management textbook, and made her way towards the class. She sat down at the edge of the class, she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself, not unless the attention was Elena's.
The bell rang, and the class promptly began to fill up. No one sat close to her though, which she was okay with. That was until Elena huffed into the room, made her way towards the seat where Rebekah was sitting: not having realized that there was someone there, and having to quickly make a beeline for the seat next to it. Once Elena sat, Rebekah leaned over, and quietly said,
"I'm sorry if this is your seat, I could always move?" She offered, not having realized that she was stepping on the toes of someone she wanted nothing more to be close with. Elena smiled a brilliant smile.
"No it's alright. The seat is lucky to have you!" Elena said dismissing the whole thing with a giggle and a flick of her hair. "Plus it's the least I could do after what you did for me yesterday." She finished just as the teacher walked in. Their conversation was put drastically on hold as the teacher began to discuss outliers and lines of best fit. Rebekah submerged herself in taking notes; She might be smart, but she had missed out on 500 years of education, and she had a feeling that was going to show if she didn't keep up.
And keep up she did.