Sienna sat on the edge of the bed, her face buried in her hands. The room reflected the dimness of her mood, with curtains drawn and blankets covering the small window above the bed, blocking the sunlight. She sat still, weary of the small cracks of light that peeked in. She discovered quickly that even the smallest touch of sunlight ignited a searing pain, a relentless reminder of her new vampire existence.
Outside, the day was beautiful – warm, with a gentle breeze rustling the trees. The scent of musk from the trees, the crisp freshness of leaves, and the fragrance of wildflowers permeated the air, assaulting her heightened vampire senses. The richness of the scents, while normally a source of delight, only added to the sensory overload, clouding any appreciation she might have had.
The room remained silent, holding the weight of her exhaustion – physically, emotionally, and mentally – as sleep eluded her. Her mind was replaying everything from the day before, over and over again, in vivid detail – from her fight with her father, her death, the transition, feeding, burying and burning her parents… it was replaying in her mind like a dizzying slideshow or horror.
Klaus leaned against the opposite wall, his gaze fixed on Sienna with a mixture of contemplation and fascination. In the dimness of the room, a heavy shadow cast over her, nearly silhouetting her image to him. Ginger ringlets escaped the messy bun she had fashioned, twirling around her cheeks like playful flames. Tears so large he could see them glisten as they fell down her cheeks, even at this distance, and yet she was as still and silent as a statue. Her hands were dark and dirty, evidence of the grave-digging she'd done still staining her skin and nails. Her dress clung to her, filthy and stained, stiff with dried mud and blood.
And despite the grime, there was something truly beautiful about her. As filthy as she was, the image of her resembled a masterpiece to him. A collage of strength and vulnerability, every smudge and stain a testament to what she'd overcome. And despite her current appearance of sorrow and fragility, he knew she was far from it.
Flashback*
"She's stronger than a normal vampire," Elijah told him, his voice hushed and shrouded in concern. "It took my full strength just to hold her back."
Klaus' eyes widened at this discovery, his attention turning to a seemingly innocent Sienna. She was telling Rebekah something, Rory bouncing around at their feet. Rebekah rested her hand on Sienna's shoulder in a reassuring touch and Sienna leaned into her embrace.
"Interesting. She was strong as a human, but not so strong that I'd think she was anything but human." Klaus told him.
They'd already ruled out that she was a witch or a werewolf. Yet, the strength Sienna had surpassed that of a typical vampire. "She had both of our blood in her system when she died," Elijah recalled her fight with Klaus, when he'd pinner her down and she bit his arm. "Perhaps her strength comes from having two sires."
The notion was unlikely but worth exploring, given the unprecedented circumstances. "Perhaps she is some other kind of supernatural creature," Klaus suggested. "Something that would complement the vampire curse, not be diminished by it like witches or wolves."
"You think we've made her into some kind of… hybrid?" Elijah clarified, arms crossing over his chest. He didn't like the implication, as he knew the apprehension Klaus would feel about it. And he did – Klaus immediately felt on guard, curious, connection.
"Her father was certainly unique-looking," Klaus speculated. The man was a giant. But yet, Sienna was more petite than Rebekah.
"We're reaching," Elijah conceded. "We need a witch."
"One we can trust," Klaus agreed, and in that moment, their thoughts converged on the same person.
A shared look confirmed their unspoken decision. "I guess we know where we're going after this," Klaus said with a smirk.
End flashback*
The air in the room was charged with a mix of Klaus' curiosity and Sienna's raw turmoil.
"You should get some sleep," Klaus suggested.
She looked up at him slowly, her brow raised. "Do vampires need sleep?" her inquiry was innocent enough, but he could tell by the glint in her eye there was more to her question.
"I suppose we could survive without it, but it certainly has its benefits," he replied vaguely.
Her brows scrunched together and another tear fell. Somehow, she looked intense and so far away at the same time. Neither acknowledged her tears. "Do vampires dream?" she asked, a croak in her throat.
Ever more curious about where this was going, he replied, "Yes, we dream."
She bit her lip, her serious and inquiring expression morphing into one of nervousness and grief. "Like… normal dreams?"
Klaus shifted his weight to his other leg, shrugging his arms outward in question. "As opposed to… vampire dreams?" he asked, a hint of teasing in his tone.
She rubbed her forearms, as if trying to shake a chill. After a pregnant pause, she confessed. "Everything is different. My body feels different, but the world does, too. Like this house… I've lived here my whole life and it feels like a stranger's home. Even the walls look like a different color. They're so yellow now and…" She trailed off, wrapping her arms around herself in a lonesome hug. She was rambling. "Even my memories are… they're so real and… well, I know it's all in my head, but I just…" Her voice grew smaller and smaller the more she talked, "Is it stupid that I'm a little afraid of what dreams will be like?"
Sympathetically, he knew exactly what she was referring to. The dreamscape a vampire's mind can conjure up to relive memories. He should've known – she's dealing with the explosive combination of trauma and transition, every feeling magnified. While she looked still on the outside, she was spiraling inside. And being so new, she didn't have the discipline to stop it.
"I can help," Klaus offered, stepping across the room to sit on the bed beside her. He sat directly next to her. She watched him move with a curious, hopeful gaze – the caution that had been in her eyes around him before was gone.
I can help. There it is again, Sienna realized.
Klaus reached up to cup her face slowly. Her cheeks were wet with a layer of grit against her soft skin. Eyes locked, he brought her closer. This was the second time he'd looked at her this closely. Even in the darkness of the room, her eyes were the most beautiful pools of gold he'd never seen.
She surrendered herself to his touch without pause, letting him guide her closer. To her, his eyes were comparable to the storming night sky – a dark, deep, powerful blue.
The moment their foreheads touched, she was transported to another place. She gasped, leaning onto Klaus, who was standing beside her on a white, sandy beach that stretched as far as the eye could see, no other soul in sight.
The air was infused with the salty aroma of the sea, carried by a gentle breeze. The sun, a warm and gentle caress on her skin, painted the sky with hues of orange and pink as it began its descent. Waves crashed rhythmically on the shore like a soothing symphony that echoed in the vastness of the empty beach.
Sienna shuddered, and as quickly as she realized she was displaced, she realized that she, too, had changed. She was now wearing a white, comfortable dress that billowed in the breeze. She was clean, all evidence of her sufferings vanished from her skin and hair. She wasn't wearing shoes, and could feel the soft, warm sand on her feet.
"Where are we?" she finally breathed, taking in the sight. "How did we…?" She'd never seen the ocean before, but she'd always wanted to. She'd read about it, heard about it from her mother, but nothing they described did any justice to the magnificence this was.
Klaus inhaled the vision of her – the image of her fiery beauty against the backdrop of the pink and orange hues of the setting sun, reflecting into the water. The artist inside him felt inspired. She looked as if the sun itself had come to shore and embodied a person.
He smirked and held out his arm – an invitation. Sienna took his arm without hesitation, and he led her along the sandy shore. "I thought you might like a moment out of your head," he explained, "so I brought you into mine."
Sienna considered his words, trying to decipher the magic surrounding her. "I'm in your head? Like in a memory?"
"Sort of. This is a real place in Greece, and to an extent, this is how I remember it… but we're not necessarily in a specific memory," he explained. "Think of it as a thought manifested in a shared consciousness."
"Wow," was all she could manage, reeling in the magnificence of this experience. And as she absorbed her surroundings, she also took in the grandeur of the ability itself, the opulence to create such a vivid world within another person's mind. Never before had she considered that any being, magical or otherwise, would be able to weave their own world around another person's mind.
The magnitude of this discovery made her realize that it wasn't just her new vampire body that was stronger, but her new vampire mind was, too. The memories that had continued to assault her like visions – it wasn't her own personal hell, but rather her new mental strength.
And strengths can be honed.
There was peace in that knowledge.
She released Klaus' arm and stepped towards the ocean. The sand was wet and cold and firm under her bare feet. The sound of the waves was as hypnotic as their rhythm, washing in and falling back.
She took another step, this time into the water, and she couldn't suppress the excited giggle that escaped her. "It's cold," she marveled. She imagined it'd be warm, just like this sunny day.
Klaus watched her, affection in his gaze. Although she was new to their lives, he knew he liked her. She had a light inside of her – like a torch that continues to burn through a monsoon, nothing could extinguish her, and there was something profoundly attractive about that.
But without knowing more about her, about who – and more importantly, what she is – he couldn't trust her. His paranoia cast a cloud over this peaceful moment, and his gaze slowly soured away from admiration to apprehension the more he thought about it.
But Sienna didn't notice.
"My mom used to tell stories about the sea, but she made it sound so bad," Sienna admitted sheepishly. Klaus took a couple steps forward to join her, ankle-deep in the water, intrigued to hear anything about her family – a piece to the puzzle. "She immigrated here as a child, but the ship she was on faced storm after storm. People died, and I guess, eventually, she hated the sea."
"It is a powerful and unpredictable beast," Klaus commented, watching Sienna. Inside, he wondered if those words rang true about her, as well. He couldn't deny the analogy seemed to apply to him.
Sienna tried to see it. The powerful, unpredictable, beast in the waves. But all she could see was the enchantment, possibility, and peace. "No," Sienna disagreed. "It's – "
In a split-second flash, Klaus and Sienna were back in the house. Klaus separated himself from her, putting distance between them when he heard the door open and Rory walk in.
The sun cast a bright ray of light into the room as the boy entered, which immediately seared Sienna. She gasped and threw herself away from it, slamming herself into the far wall, into the shadows of the room. The whole thing was jarring for Sienna – to be plunged from her beachy paradise back into the dingey cabin, four walls that seemed to be made of more regret than house.
"Sorry!" Rory quipped, kicking the door shut behind him. He was carrying a steaming bucket of water, a smile on his face. "Miss. Rebekah said you needed to wash up," Rory explained, "so we warmed up some water for you."
He went to the washroom and poured the bucket into the larger bathing basin. Rebekah followed behind him shortly after with another bucket of water, helping to fill the tub. This continued a few more times. "No offense, dear, but you're going to need a good wash before we can take you anywhere else," Rebekah quipped, dumping her bucket into the basin again. She then dropped the empty bucket in Klaus' lap and swaggered over to Sienna, sitting between them.
She lifted a few bits of Sienna's dirty, torn dress and sighed. "This dress is beyond salvaging," she said with a tired sigh. "Rory and I will head into town and find you something to wear."
"Really?" Rory exclaimed; excitement peaked. He'd never been into town before. Sienna suddenly felt a bizarre combination of self-consciousness and gratitude.
"Get cleaned up while we're gone," she ordered, spinning on heel to leave. "Come on, Rory," she added. Rory followed behind her like an excited pup.
"Thank you, Rebekah," Sienna finally managed. She was starting to think she understood Rebekah a little more from their short encounters – she had a rough exterior, but inside she was all heart.
Rebekah gave a small nod and a smile, then turned sternly to Klaus. "And what do you think you're doing? She needs to bathe – leave her be," she barked.
Klaus smiled sheepishly, looking up through his lashes. "If you insist," he sighs, and with a playful reluctance – a quick wink to Sienna – he exited with them.
And Sienna was left alone, blush on her freckled cheeks, to bathe.