Chapter 01
Mystic Falls, April 28th, 2010.
“Just take a deep breath,” Stefan said as he lead Elena through the woods. “The fresh smell of Spring, without the heightened senses of a vampire.”
Elena scoffed as she playfully tugged his arm. “I know what you’re trying to do, and I’m not changing my mind,” she smiled at him then, before they both startled from the figure rising from the bushes with a growl and launched herself at Elena.
Stefan watched as the creature – no, human, pushed Elena to the ground, pulling her out of his grasp and he was stunned for a moment before pulling the woman off of his girlfriend. The woman reeked, it was almost as if the only shower she had known for a while was the river, he could smell dead fish all over her. Of course, the tattered clothing and the blood spatters on them didn’t do much good either, but it wasn’t human blood, it was animal blood.
And the woman was still snarling and trying to grab Elena while Stefan kept pushing her away.
“Is this one of his tricks?” Elena said, fear evident in her voice as she scrambled to her feet and made sure that Stefan was between her and the mad woman. “Compel a homeless person to attack me?”
“Why would he do that? He wants you alive, remember?” He countered as he gave her a quick once over before returning his gaze on the pint-sized woman, before noticing her true face. “She’s a vampire,” he said, stunned.
“Oh, great.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t think she feeds on humans,” he said as he let the woman go, but found that that had been a mistake as she jumped on Elena again and this time managed to hit her straight in the face with her fist. “Hey!” Stefan pulled harder this time, now knowing that she was a vampire made it easier. He didn’t have to hide his own strength. “Stop that!”
“She is playing you, mister,” the woman pointed at Elena. “She is twisted.”
“Right now, the only one who’s twisted here, is you,” he said angrily and pulled her closer to him, leveling his gaze at her. “You’re going to leave us alone. Go back where you came from and don’t ever attack this girl again.”
The woman spat in Stefan’s face before pulling away and running off.
“What the hell was that!” Elena cried out as she once again got to her feet.
“I don’t know, but until we know who or what she is, don’t go into the woods without us.”
.-.-.-.-.
Mystic Falls, April 29th, 2010.
Damon looked at his brother when he recounted the attack on Elena the day before. “You’re serious? The woodnymph attacked Elena?” It was a good thing that they had something else to talk about, it kept his mind off of Tyler’s little bite and it would keep Stefan from worrying. Damon wasn’t even sure if he was going to tell him, if he had to be honest. There was no coming back from this. End of the line. Best let it happen without too much fussing from Stefan, wouldn’t want to mess up his hero hair, would we?
“Woodnymph?” Stefan snorted. “She’s a vampire, Damon.”
“Well, obviously she’s something supernatural seeing as she’s been around for at least as long as we have,” he huffed as he took a swig of bourbon. “She saved me a couple of times from Giuseppe’s wrath when we were kids, and I could have sworn to have seen her when he shot us.” He had wanted to use himself as a replacement for Jenna during the ritual, but Katherine said that Klaus thought Damon’s blood was impure now that he was bitten. Just peachy. He felt guilty enough about Jenna dying, Elena losing yet again another family member, and he was just about ready to throw in the towel.
“You never told me this.”
“As if,” Damon rolled his eyes at his brother. “Oh, hey, Stefan, did you know that there’s this wildling woodnymph living in the woods? Don’t ask me where, because I don’t know, but she’s there!”
Stefan nodded as he straightened his tie. “You’re right, that sounds kinda ridiculous.”
“I’ve never seen her go after a human before though.”
“You think she’ll do it again?”
“Nah. She doesn’t like people much,” he waved his brother’s concern away. He wasn’t worried for Elena’s safety, maybe he should be, but from what he could tell, the woman had been harmless. Sticking up for the little man and all that. Or maybe it was simply wish fulfillment. “But maybe. Did you tell Elena not to go to the woods by herself until we know more?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Now, let’s go, we have a double funeral to attend to,” he said chipper and pat his brother on the back. Maybe, after the funeral, he was going to tell his brother about the bite. He wasn’t sure yet. Stefan liked to share information with Elena, and the last thing she needed was another person to mourn.
.-.-.-.-.
He needed some time alone. While everyone went back to the house for coffee, tea and cake, Damon needed to clear his head. Make a good plan. Make sure that he wasn’t going to leave pieces of himself all over Mystic Falls. Make sure that his death wouldn’t be messy.
Oh, who was he kidding? Death was messy and he was feeling sorry for himself. What would Stefan do without him? What would happen to Elena without having an extra set of Salvatore eyes looking out for her? He was currently the strongest non-Original vampire in town, he was going to leave everyone defenseless. Why did he care? He shouldn’t care. Nope. Not at all.
He kicked against a tree stump, uprooting it from the soil and watched it soar through the sky and land somewhere in the distance. Instead of the well expected ‘thud’, he could hear someone cry out in pain and for a moment, he felt a pang in his heart. A pang of guilt. But who was he kidding? Speeding off in the direction of the sound, he wished it had been a human that the stump had fallen on but found the woodnymph dusting herself off while she huffed. “Whoops?”
“Stupid vampires with their stupid strength,” she muttered under her breath as she kept hitting herself. “So much sand and leaves and weaves and trees.” Her head snapped up to meet Damon’s gaze. “I know every tree there is in these woods. You hurt Ezekiel! He was already ailing and you made it worse! Now he’ll never grow back again!” She pointed at the stump that lay on its side. “And you nearly lobbed my head off! Is that what I get as payment for making sure you grew up?”
“I am not in the mood!” Damon yelled at her. “I’m sorry, okay!”
“Fine!” the woman yelled back before turning around, grabbing the tree stump and stomped off in the general direction of where he had come from. Curious as to what she was up to, Damon followed her, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have anything else to do. It was almost like a slapstick, watching her carry the rather big stump back to its original place. The stump was bigger than her and she carried it as if it weighed nothing. Maybe Stefan was right and she wasn’t a nymph but a vampire.
But a woodnymph sounded so much more magical than a vampire. Part of him didn’t want to give up on that idea he summoned as a kid.
He watched her put the stump back in the ground, covering the roots with the soil again and gently caressed the wood as she whispered sweet nothings to it. Soothed it. “Why are you doing that?”
She growled as she put her arms around the stump and looked at Damon. “You’ve hurt my friend. I’m soothing him.”
He let out a breath and sat down in the leaves as he continued to watch her. “Where have you been for the last two hundred years or so?”
“Right here. You didn’t need me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do,” she said as she kissed the stump and got back to her feet. “There. All better.” Her focus then shifted entirely onto Damon and she cocked her head. “You’re in trouble, aren’t you?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
“I can smell it. You’ve been cursed.” Within a blink, she was in front of him and pushing up the sleeves of his jacket. “Oh, that is bad. I think you’ll be dead in a couple of days.”
“I know,” he bit at her as he pulled his arm back.
“There is a way to fix you, well, I think. I’ve heard stories. Whispers.”
“Oh yeah?”
The woman nodded so fast that Damon was afraid her head would snap off her torso. “The trees tell me everything.”
“Tell me.”
“I can’t say,” she pulled him to his feet. “Come, I might have something to delay the inevitable.”
.-.-.-.-.
Mystic Falls, May 1st 2010.
She had stalked him. It was hard for her to be in town, amongst the humans, mainly because she was quite aware that she looked different. First of all; she wasn’t clean, like them. Secondly; her clothes were old. Thirdly; her clothes were hanging on by a thread. Fourthly; they were bloodied and dirty. Fiftly; she was walking barefoot.
She was genuinely worried about Damon. She knew that there was a cure, if you lived for as long as she had, you’d hear stories, but it would be unable to get as the owner didn’t like parting with the cure, as it was special. But she didn’t want Damon to do something stupid either. All he needed was a little more time so that his brother could figure things out on his own. Maybe a little nudge in the right direction but they’d probably not believe her.
She had studied the humans of Mystic Falls for years, waiting for her beloved to return. She had watched the Salvatore brothers turn because of the blood they ingested from that wench. She knew then that they would be alright, that their newfound strength would keep them together and alive. She had watched them come and go to Mystic Falls. She had seen the wars. She had seen her around.
She had watched in fascination when she got locked in the tomb underneath the old Fell’s Church and occasionally left bodies of dead animals in front of the sealed door, just to torment her. For what she’d done. Not that she could smell it but still. It was fun in her head. It frustrated her immensely when she was released from the tomb. And that there was a copy of her. Stupid wench. How was this possible? It boggled her mind.
The hope that her beloved was returning was growing stronger by the day with the presence of the new residents of Mystic Falls and that was one of the reasons why she dared to venture into town; maybe she’d see him. She needed to be sure that Damon would come home alright. She followed him back to his home after he had gone over to her place to apologize. Or whatever it was. Maybe to say goodbye. And that was wrong.
She observed him from outside the house. She had to strain to really hear what was going on inside the house, but she could hear it in Damon’s voice; something wasn’t right. When the curtain moved, she moved quickly. She kicked down the door and rushed in, breaking his neck and dragging him into the shadows, out of harm’s way while a surprised Stefan looked on.
“How did you get in?”
“Owner of the house is dead,” she said simply before closing the curtain again and slipped Damon’s ring back onto his finger. “There’s a way to save him.”
“Yeah, I gathered that when he told me,” Stefan hoisted his brother over his shoulder and started to walk towards the cellars. The sound of bare feet following unnerved him. Was there really a cure for Damon? If so, where was it? A werewolf bite couldn’t be cured. And why was she still around? Was she going to stick around? Because that would be interesting to say the least. “Why do you care so much about Damon?”
“Not just Damon,” she replied in a singsong voice. “I saved you from drowning, but you don’t remember.”
“Because I never drowned,” he lowered his brother onto the cot in the cellar and closed the door behind him. “Who are you?”
The woman shrugged. “I suppose I could be your guardian angel or whatever.”
“Damon called you a woodnymph.”
She huffed and then nodded. “That works.”
“Are you going to stick around?”
She thought for a moment and nodded as she pointed at the closed door. “Until he is okay.”
“Good. Well, why don’t you go upstairs and take a nice hot bath and I’ll see if I can get you some clothes,” Stefan said as he pointed towards the stairs. She seemed harmless. He knew she wasn’t, because she had attacked Elena, but she was doing alright now. Now was not the time to ask her why she thought Elena was twisted. She had just saved Damon and she needed to take a shower. Badly.
.-.-.-.-.
She had liked taking a bath. It took her a while to figure out how the buttons worked, but when water came rushing out of it, she was in heaven. Clean water. Hot, but clean. As Stefan had said, by the time she had rinsed all the grime out of her hair, off her body, clothes were laying on the bed in whomever’s room she was in.
Women wore pants these days. She didn’t like pants, they restricted movement and it looked like a torture instrument, but she got into the denim jeans anyway, finding it surprisingly soft and fitting. The shirt was male sized, but that was okay, she felt more comfortable like that and she could smell Damon on it. Smiling, she mentally gave Stefan a gold star for thinking outside the box.
Stefan had said he was going to find more information on trying to help his brother, but the moment she heard someone else’s voice inside the house, she decided to stay upstairs. Listening in on the conversation. This ‘Ric’ seemed friendly, somewhat, towards Damon, and there was no immediate threat.
She didn’t like hearing Damon scream in agony and hoped that Stefan would come back soon, with the cure to Damon’s curse.
She moved to the window when she heard cars arrive and saw her, alongside what looked like the police and she was being detained. Things were bad. What if they’d go to Damon? He could hurt them all, or they could hurt him! How dare the woman enter the house uninvited! And she and the other men were going downstairs! She started to pace around like a caged animal. This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good. They couldn’t do this.
No, they couldn’t do this. She needed to stop them. To put a stop to all of this and the only way to do that was to kill them all. Yes. To kill them all. No, she couldn’t kill them all because that was bad. That was really bad and it would only lead to more trouble. All she could do was to follow Damon and make sure he was alright.
She winced when she heard someone being smacked against the wall and saw Damon flee the house. She opened the window and ran after him. He couldn’t be left on his own!
He stumbled across the square, and luckily someone he knew caught him before falling over. She kept her distance, because she wasn’t supposed to be there. As long as Damon was being taken care of, she didn’t need to be there for him. She followed them to the restaurant, the delicious smells of meat wafting her way and all of a sudden, she was hungry. She needed to feed. But not on humans, no.
She hid behind big metal boxes when the police showed up again. For a moment, when she heard the loud bang, she was worried that Damon had been hit, but saw him a moment later, running away. Running into her arms. Stumbling, fumbling, mumbling. Kissing her. Taking a deep breath, she repressed the anger inside of her before she’d do something impulsive and stupid; such as taking a bite out of that clone. That human clone that couldn’t be possible. Damon kept calling her Elena or Katherine. But that was wrong. No, that wasn’t good. It was her, not them.
When he collapsed, she knew that she wasn’t strong enough to carry Damon back home, so she moved out of the shadows. She growled in warning before picking him up and running back home, making him comfortable in his bed as she waited for the wench to show up. He was burning up, like a fever, and she needed to cool him off.
She rushed to the bathroom, grabbed her discarded towel and put water on it before putting it over his head. Taking a step back, she crossed her arms and waited. Muttering to herself that things were taking too long and that the cure was going to come late. That this wasn’t fair and maybe she should fly up in the air. No, she needed to focus. Damon needed her.
She showed up. Finally. She wasn’t sure why, but Damon had been asking for her. It was painful to watch the entire scene before her, knowing what she had done in the past. She was just about to move away when the other one showed up and she felt like her head was going to explode. This wasn’t possible. This wasn’t good. This was everything that was wrong in the world. How could there be so many of them? Of her?
As her head spun, she fled the house. Damon was going to be alright, it was time to make herself scarce again. Or find Stefan first before deciding to make herself scarce again. Stefan had an even bigger habit of getting into trouble.
.-.-.-.-.
Chicago, June 2010.
She knew that Stefan was up to something, but she didn’t like it that it was with Niklaus. They both didn’t know that she was around, which was a good thing, but she didn’t like the entire situation at all. Stefan was off the rails, or so it seemed. She knew him better than that. He had everything under control.
Right until the point where she, Katherine, decided to call Damon and tell him about Stefan’s whereabouts. This was an accident waiting to happen. Things were going to get really difficult for everyone involved because of this. Of course, she liked mayhem. She liked poking her nose into business that didn’t involve her. Because it was so much fun.
But playing with people, vampire or not, wasn’t fun. It was simply a cruel act.
Niklaus took Stefan to a bar that they frequented in the 1920’s. Oh yes, she was there. While Damon was safe, he was in a different part of Chicago back then so she had kept an eye on Stefan because he was acting strange. Crazed and completely psychotic. He was a Ripper, just like his mom was before him. She also knew that Nik had been there too, with Rebekah. And that something happened to Stefan that made him forget. She wished that he could remember, so he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Niklaus wasn’t being a great guy either. Maybe she should reveal herself to him and beat the living daylights out of him, punish him for what he was doing. It was unnecessary. He wasn’t alone, but if he continued going down the path that he was currently on, he’d certainly end up that way.
She let out a curse when she spotted Damon and the other one. Why did he have to bring her along? Two of them together would certainly cause the world to end! While she wanted to slap Damon silly for what he had done, she couldn’t help but follow Niklaus and Stefan to a warehouse. And there were coffins. It then dawned on her that this was the entire reason why she hadn’t been able to find her beloved. He hadn’t been able to return to her.
Once again, she felt an anger inside of her that she could barely contain. She had to; she wasn’t there for herself, she was there for Stefan and when Niklaus pulled a dagger out of Rebekah’s heart, she could feel her heart swell with hope. Her beloved wasn’t dead! He could be revived just like Rebekah and everything was going to be alright, wasn’t it?
Focus, she told herself. Stefan’s important. You can wait for a bit longer.
Of course, as expected, things took a turn for the worse and eventually, Damon and Elena left Chicago. She told herself to stick close to Niklaus, Rebekah and Stefan, because they were close to her beloved. And Stefan was still in trouble. What was his play? What was he doing? Did he really have everything under control?
Midway July she gave up trailing Stefan. The constant moving around tired her out, she needed some rest. Some quiet. She needed her cabin. She knew that it wouldn’t be long until her beloved would come back.
.-.-.-.-.
Mystic Falls, September 6th, 2010.
Why were Niklaus and Rebekah so mean to everyone? Especially to Stefan and Damon? Fortunately everything was being contained in the school, so that no one could really get hurt, but why were they so mean? What happened to them?
She had watched her, Katherine, like a hawk. She was up to something and the mention of Mikael wasn’t very promising. They couldn’t get to him. It would cause more strife and hurt, for everyone involved. No, this needed to be stopped.
First, by puncturing the tires on the car. Second, by running off to Carolina to the Mausoleum and wait for them there. She was going to snap Katherine’s neck.
On her way to the mausoleum, she thought about how busy she’d been lately. Far too busy for her liking and far too involved, too, but the boys were in danger. Now, if they’d stop being idiots and live life the normal way, she wouldn’t have needed to come out of hiding and keep an eye out.
She’d only been looking after them because after so long, she had gotten bored waiting for her beloved to return. And now it was her sworn duty to make sure they didn’t do stupid things, but they wouldn’t listen to her. All she could do was to pull them out of harm’s way, and even then, they didn’t seem to be grateful. In any case, Mikael couldn’t be allowed to be freed.
It had taken a powerful witch to subdue him. He was the hunter of vampires. He would kill them all, and especially his children. In particular Niklaus. And no one was going to touch Niklaus. Mikael was the monster that hid underneath everyone’s beds, and Katherine and Damon thought it would be a great idea to wake him up to kill Nik. And that wasn’t going to happen.
She knew that her loyalty was skewed now. To preserve Niklaus or to end everyone’s suffering. She was legitimately afraid of Mikael, so if she could stop him from rising, it would be the best thing she’d ever done.
But she was too late. The tomb was open and Katherine had found Mikael. Growling, she rushed in and snapped Katherine’s neck before closing the coffin again and dragging the vampire’s body out of the tomb. She barricaded the door and pushed her back into the car. And then she waited.
She must have dozed off, because the next thing she remembered was waking up from Katherine on the phone to Damon. And the tomb opened again. “And I’ve tried everything. Gravediggers, mourners, mice, rats, bats. He’s just not interested.”
She let out a sigh of relief, it was good that they didn’t know that much about Mikael and that he only fed on vampires, but with it just being her and her at the cemetery, one of them was surely going to end up as food if she didn’t stop poking the bear.
“Your little stinky friend snapped my neck. So I snapped hers. And she’s coming to. She doesn’t look very happy.”
“I don’t care,” Damon’s voice could be heard. “I want Mikael to kill Klaus so I can start de-rippering Stefan and then everything will be rainbows and sunshine. Just don’t kill her.”
“Fine. I’ll keep trying.”
“Hurry.”
She let out a growl as she got to her feet and ran inside the mausoleum, using her speed to smack Katherine into a wall and quickly slamming the lid back on the coffin. “No!”
“Oh come on, you little imp,” Katherine said defiantly as she got back on her feet and pushed her hair out of her face. “You want to fight? Let’s fight.”
She advanced on Katherine again, knocking her head against the wall before grabbing her by the hair and smacked her face into the concrete coffin. “No! He will not be raised!”
She was surprised by the strength of this vampire. Maybe there was more to her than they all initially had thought. But she had a feeling that it wasn’t just Mikael she was fighting for, there was a sick hatred in her eyes towards Katherine as a vampire. Person. Or whatever. And this was interesting. She allowed her to get a few hits in before realizing that she hadn’t tried one thing on Mikael yet; vampire blood.
Katherine hated this, but she was going to be self-sacrificing and let this raging nutjob let off some steam. The first time she hit the coffin, she slid off the lid again. The second time, she was almost dangling above Mikael’s face, her blood dripping on his face and she could have sworn she saw some movement underneath all that desiccation. The third time, she allowed herself to be smacked into a wall again, creating a bigger gash on her face than previously had been and bit her own wrist as she was flung into the coffin again. Blood was now pouring over him and his eyes shot open as he grabbed Katherine’s wrist to drink. “Bingo,” she grinned.
She wanted to smack herself. Inevitably, she had been the one who had raised Mikael and called upon hell on Earth. She didn’t dare to move. If he’d see her, she’d be dead. She’d be so dead and then she couldn’t meet her beloved again. No, this was bad. Very very bad.
She closed her eyes and covered her ears when she heard the chains break. She backed into a corner and sat down, making herself as small as possible so that he wouldn’t be able to see her, but of course, he did.
“It can’t be,” Mikael said as he got out of the coffin and saw the trembling vampire in the corner of the tomb. She was so familiar, and yet, she was supposed to be dead. “Isa?”
Isa’s head snapped up at hearing her name for the first time in so long and got to her feet. Slowly nodding, she made her way over to the very confused, and very drained Katherine only to hoist her over her shoulders and make a run for it. Mikael was raised.
And it was all her fault.
She ran as far as she could, but she was weakened, she wasn’t as strong as vampires who fed on humans and in all honesty, she was getting tired. By the time she reached Myrtle Beach, Katherine had finally recuperated. She set the vampire down before snapping her neck and like a spear, threw her into the ocean. “You will thank me later, wench,” Isa muttered as she took a quick dip in the ocean and swam North for as long as she could, creating as much distance between her and Katherine as she could, and diffusing her scent for Mikael.
He was a skilled hunter, an excellent tracker and Isa knew how he worked. She knew how vicious he could be, she had seen him work. She had seen the devastation he left after he killed half the village. The determination in his eyes to kill his children. To rid the world of all vampires. No, this was bad news.
She killed a few deers on the nearest gameland she could find. The bear was tasty and she used his insides to cover herself. Mikael wouldn’t go after her if she smelled like a wild animal. Isa would smell like a bear and he’d ignore her. While Mikael was a force to be reckoned with, he was also quite dumb.
It wasn’t until a couple of days later that she returned to Mystic Falls, and was glad to find out that she had missed the ghosts from appearing. No doubt there would be some ghosts of her past that would have liked to have a word with her!
She was torn between going to her cabin and going to the Salvatore brothers for help. No doubt Katherine would have woken up and would have clued them in on what was going on. Isa believed she owed Damon and Stefan an explanation.
Sighing, Isa made her way to the boarding house, looking over her shoulder wherever she went, and peeking around corners before going round them, to make sure she wasn’t being followed. Instead of running inside the house, she politely knocked until someone opened the door.
Unfortunately it was Elena.
She pushed the girl away and ignored her protests as she walked inside the house. Isa took a seat on the expensive looking sofa and waited for the brothers to show their faces once Elena had come over her initial shock and started to protest. “You can’t be here,” Elena said as she crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. “You can’t be here. You’re a lunatic.”
Isa huffed as she stared into the fire. “Not more so than you are, in fact, I believe that compared to you, I am quite sane.”
“I have to disagree.”
“Then disagree, I’m not stopping you.”
“Damon! Stefan!” Elena called out. “She’s covered in blood and on your couch!”
“Ugh,” Isa rubbed her temples, the girl’s shrill voice giving her a headache. The bear had done her good, the cobwebs inside her mind were gone. Of course, she knew that it was only temporary, she never performed on a well-filled stomach because it hadn’t been necessary. But she had to do it now. She needed to be safe and have all the strength she could possess.
“It smells like bear,” Stefan said as he walked into the living room and eyed the vampire on his couch. “You fought a bear?”
“Black, and it was delicious. Sorry I couldn’t bring some back,” she responded, bored as she glared at the girl.
“That uhm, that’s impressive.”
“Nah. Oh! You know what his name was?” Isa smiled widely as she looked at Stefan. “It was Jason. He told me.”
Damon shook his head, scratching his neck at the confused look from his brother. “Don’t ask. I stopped decades ago trying to figure that one out.”
“A bear!” Stefan said in surprise.
“Well, given what Katherine told us, I’m not surprised,” Damon said as he rounded the couch and sat down in front of the girl with a big smile on his face. “Hi, I’m Damon.”
“I’m Isa.”
“Pleasure to meet you and finally get your name,” he said before putting his hands on her knees to stop her from moving. “Now tell me… why is it that Mikael knows your name?”
“He was friends with my father. Then something happened and he snapped. Killed half of my village,” Isa said, hatred laced in every single word.
“That means…”
“That I’m older than you. Yes.”
“You know the Originals.”
“Is that what they call themselves? How preposterous,” she huffed, crossing her arms and moved her foot between Damon’s legs as he was still holding on to her. “But Mikael is raised. You got your wish. Now he will kill everyone you know and I hope he starts with her.” Isa thumbed over her shoulder towards Elena.
Damon smirked. “I think it’s story time, lady. Prove it.”
“Fine,” Isa sighed. “How do you want me to prove that I’m older than you and that I’m speaking the truth?”
“Tell us something about the Mikaelsons.”
“How about I tell you about her?” She thumbed over her shoulder again. “Because she’s not who she says she is. She might be ‘Elena’ to you, or even ‘Katherine’… but she’s not. They’re not. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to duplicate herself!”
“Who do you think she is?” Stefan asked as he sat down next to Damon, ready to pounce on the older vampire when needed.
“That conniving, maneater of a wench called Tatia!” Isa exclaimed, beginning to get frustrated. “She has a thing for getting between brothers. She did it then, she did it when you two were still human and now she’s doing it again!”
Stefan looked at Damon, confused. “Who’s Tatia?”
Elena sucked in a breath. “Oh boy.”
“Elena?” Damon turned his gaze to her and raised an eyebrow in question. “Is there something you like to share with the class?”
“Rebekah told me this story. It’s true,” she replied as she rounded the couch and sat down in a chair near the fire to keep an eye on the brothers and Isa. “Rebekah told me that her mother used Tatia’s blood to create the Original vampires and later, used it to bind Klaus’ werewolf side. Tatia was the Original Doppelganger. This is why Klaus needed me to break the curse and use my blood to create his hybrids.”
“Well we know that, but we thought it was Katherine that—”
“What is a doppelganger?” Isa demanded before breaking Damon’s hands to get them off of her and got up before starting to pace the room like a caged animal. “That’s Tatia. With a different name.”
“That hurt!” Damon let out as he looked at his crooked hands.
“It’ll heal,” Isa growled. “Consider it payback because you told Katherine to break my neck.”
“There’s no need for violence,” Stefan said calmly. “Why are you so afraid of Mikael? I mean, I understand that he killed half your village but…”
“I don’t want to die!” Isa exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “Nor do I want Niklaus killed or any of his siblings! They’re good people, they’re simply misunderstood!”
Damon huffed. “That’s what all psychopaths say.”
She stopped pacing and faced him. “I’ve been looking out for you for nearly two hundred years, Damon Salvatore. You’re good people, but you’re misunderstood and yet, I look out for you. And I don’t want you to die either, so what does that say about our relationship?”
“That you’re nuts!”
She pulled him off the table and pushed him into a wall, her hand cupping his private parts. “Would you like me to feed these to you?” She squeezed, hard. “I have no problem with ripping them off and stuffing them into your mouth, like a dirty sock.”
“You’re still nuts!”
Isa growled as she managed to grab the biggest part she could find and snapped it in half, before dropping him to the floor.
“She broke my dick!” Damon said with a tiny voice. “Oh fuck, that hurts!”
“Language!” Isa shot at him and kneed him in his face.
“Okay, okay,” Stefan said kindly as he moved himself between his brother – who he felt for at the moment – and the crazy vampire. “Calm down. Why do you care so much about what happens to the Originals?”
“That’s my business, not yours.” Isa spat, pushing Stefan into his brother and walked towards the stairs. “I’m tired. I’m going to take a bath and nap. If either of you tries to kill me, I will kill you first, and it won’t be pretty.”
.-.-.-.-.
Mystic Falls, September 15th, 2010
She had to leave the house to feed. She’d been holed up on the Salvatore’s first floor for days now and no one dared to come even close. They tried, especially asking after Mikael – again, she didn’t think it was her story to tell, so she didn’t. She was getting fed up with it and maybe it was time to return to her cabin. Surely, Mikael would have found Mystic Falls now, and its connection to Niklaus.
Isa didn’t dare, she stuck to the shadows as she made her way through the woods. Passing her tree friends, she felt like home again. “Oh, I know, Jenny,” she said as she caressed a trunk. “Times are sure changing, but don’t be afraid. I won’t let anything happen to them.”
She turned around to face Quentin and smiled at him. “Yes, you’ll continue to grow, even when I’m gone. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find some game.”
She skidded to a halt as she heard the whisper of Geezer the elm tree. “Thanks! I could use a big meal!” She high-fived a branch and spat off in the direction the tree had told her. There, by the edge of the water, she saw a magnificent stag and he was glorious. His name was James, but he didn’t like to be called that way. Jimmy, maybe.
Mikael couldn’t believe his eyes. It truly was Isa, the village girl that he had liked for one of his sons. She hadn’t changed, much, her heart was still as big and open to anything and anyone, but she hadn’t experienced time that well. It appeared that she had lost her mind and he was contemplating whether or not it was a mercy killing if he’d feed on her. But she looked so happy, so content, between her trees and her animals, and he simply didn’t have the heart to make her his next meal.
Yes, he was well aware that over the years he had grown bitter, more angrier, towards his children, but that didn’t mean that he’d have to kill every single vampire in existence. He simply needed to end his children. End their suffering. End their torment that they plagued upon the world. Especially Niklaus. The bastard son.
He had often imagined what life would have been like if his wife had been faithful to him and if they hadn’t been under constant threat of the werewolves. If everything had stayed the same. Likely, Isa would have given him many grandchildren and he would take joy in teaching them to fight while his son had the status of a healer. His son had truly been gifted in the world of magic, much like his mother. Perhaps even more so because he dared to experiment.
If life would have stayed the way it had been, all of them would have died by now and would have been at peace. For Mikael, the only way he was going to have peace now was to end his children. And deep down, even when it came to Niklaus, it sickened him.
He watched as Isa got close to the stag, the stag not feeling threatened by the tiny vampire at all. She caressed his neck and body before hugging him tightly and drinking its blood without a fight. She sure was something.
Mikael knew that the best chance of finding his son was through Stefan Salvatore. They had encountered each other before, in the 1920’s in Chicago, and Stefan and his son had been the best of friends. If anyone knew how to reach him, it would be him. He was surprised to find Isa’s scent all over the building, almost as if she enveloped it with her being, her protection, and he fought the smile that was on his face. Isa had always been the good one. It was a shame that for some reason, she became immortal like himself. Like his children.
“Mikael.” Stefan greeted him at the door, and stepped aside to let him in.
“Stefan, so good to see you again,” he countered and walked in. He was greeted by the other Salvatore brother and Elena Gilbert, the doppelganger he had tried to kill in the 1990’s. Or find her, at least. “Elena.” He took in a deep breath. “Isa’s been here, hasn’t she?”
“Yes,” Stefan said slowly.
“And the girl’s still breathing. That is impressive.” Mikael said as he cocked his head and looked at Elena. “That must have required a lot of self-restraint on her part.”
“She was quite special, alright,” Damon said, rubbing his hands as he could still feel her break them. Not to mention his dick that took its time to heal. “So, you’re the father of the Originals, and she’s… what?”
Mikael was slightly amused. “She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell us what?”
“Her father and I were in the final stages of arranging a marriage between her and one of my sons.”
Damon, Stefan and Elena all looked at each other, unnerved by the new information.
“Oh, not to worry, it wasn’t Niklaus so I can still kill him,” he said cheerfully. “Now, on with the plan.”
A couple of hours later, Rebekah arrived at the house. She didn’t care much for Mikael, he was merely a means to an end, but she was glad that she wasn’t the one being hunted. It hadn’t been the first time she’d called him to take care of her brother, and for some reason the weasel always managed to escape death. Hopefully, this time it would work.
When she got filled in about another ancient vampire lingering around, she couldn’t believe her ears. “Isa’s around?” She was confused because to her knowledge, they didn’t learn that they could turn people for at least a hundred years after they were turned. What had her brother done? Did he even know that this happened? It wasn’t likely, otherwise he would have gone for her immediately after Klaus undaggered him the last time.
Rebekah was also scared because her father had liked Isa very much. Much like a daughter and one that was as good as betrothed to her brother. She’d always been jealous of his feelings towards Isa, because she seemed perfect in every way. She was also scared because it could mean that after Niklaus’ demise, her father would still end up killing her, but she’d have to take his word for it that he wouldn’t.
Elena hadn’t liked it, but she had to do it, otherwise there was a great possibility for Rebekah to screw things up for them. She could switch sides like a drop of a hat and that wasn’t good. Klaus needed to die, and no one was going to stop them. Not even Rebekah. She watched as the body lay on the floor in front of her and sighed. “Well, now it’s official; I’m a backstabbing bitch.”
.-.-.-.-.
Isa had compelled some guy to have the owner of the house invite her in. She needed to stop Damon and Stefan from fighting each other. Stefan was under compulsion and everything was messy. The brothers might even end up killing each other, and that was something she didn’t want to happen. If it meant to face her fears when it came to Mikael, then she would.
She was not only at the party to protect the brothers, but also to protect Niklaus. And in a way, the brothers again. She had stolen a dress out of some lady’s closet after compelling her to let her inside her house and had cleaned up nicely. The stag blood was still warming her veins, fuelling her need to complete this task, even if it meant that she had to deal with a huge amount of people. She’d have to stay focused and on target. She could do that.
No. She couldn’t.
The moment she set foot in the mansion, she was overwhelmed by the different types of smells and all the different voices. It took her a good fifteen minutes hiding in a corner to block them all out and zero in on her targets. The first thing she did was to take out Stefan by snapping his neck and stuffing him into a cupboard under the stairs.
She wouldn’t have long until he’d come to, but at least he was out of the way. Damon was next. It was easy to take him out, and she put him down on the couch, almost as if was asleep. She caressed the hair out of his face and then heard the noise at the door. Mikael taunting Niklaus. Calling him boy.
Shivers ran down her spine as she recalled the many times Mikael had abused Niklaus, using the same tone of voice as he did now. Come to think of it, Mikael had always frightened her, and her plan was to take her beloved as far away as possible once they had wed, if only for him to be out of harm’s way. Mikael’s wrath had always mostly focused on Niklaus, even before the big secret came out, that Nik hadn’t been Mikael’s son, but the other brothers were bullied as well.
Then again, it had been tough times, and maybe Mikael only wanted to be sure that his sons would grow strong. He also had his soft side; Isa remembered that Mikael liked her. Truly liked her and appreciated her for what she was doing for his son. She once got smacked by him for taking his son away from him for a long stretch of time, and that had been well deserved, but still it hurt.
Mikael needed to die.
She peeked around the corner and saw Elena on the floor, but it wasn’t Elena, she could smell that it was Katherine, no matter how much she tried to mask it. If she had to be honest, that had been a brilliant move, because from what she could tell, neither Nik or Mikael were able to distinguish between the two. Isa still thought they were Tatia’s duplicates and that deep down, they were still Tatia, but it was interesting.
When the stakes were out, she knew she had to be quick and time it right. Nik was near tears and all she wanted to do was to hug him and tell him that everything was alright. She flashed towards him and took the stake that was on the floor before throwing it straight into Mikael, who burst into flames.
“You conniving little bitch!” Katherine cried out as she got to her feet and quickly threw two vervain grenades at the hybrids behind her. “You bitch! I’m going to kill you!”
“Please,” Isa huffed as she looked at Niklaus, who looked at her in shock. She smiled at him and gently pat his cheek. “Enjoy your freedom, Niklaus.”
“I know you,” he managed to say.
“And I know you,” she hugged him and gently pat his back. “It’s going to be alright.”
With Katherine watching at the front door, she quickly made her way out of the house through the back and headed straight for her cabin. This had been too much excitement for the day, but the brothers were safe, and so was Niklaus. All in all, she did her job. And she did it right.
.-.-.-.-.
Isa decided to stay away from Mystic Falls since there was no immediate danger to anyone. Perhaps there was, to Stefan, as he was currently hiding the coffins of the Mikaelsons somewhere. And she wanted to know where. He was holding her beloved hostage, and that wasn’t right. She didn’t care that Nik had been holding him in a state of dessication for God knows how long, because he’d been with his brother. But now he was in the hands of a revenge-fuelled Stefan.
She had conferred with the trees, and they had unanimously told her not to pursue this. That things would work out in the end and she hoped they were right. Her heart ached for her beloved. He was so close, yet so far away.
In October, she finally dared to have a peek in Mystic Falls, to see what was going on. Not liking what she saw, she retreated back to her cabin and she was determined to stay there all winter. Enough was enough. Her hope had shattered into a thousand pieces, because now that Klaus had the coffins back, everyone was still in them. Except Elijah. Noble Elijah. Now there was no way that her beloved was going to be resurrected, Elijah never had taken a liking to him. It had always been him, Niklaus and Rebekah. Always and Forever.
.-.-.-.-.
While it was interesting to figure out who, exactly, had pulled the dagger out of him, he had more pressing matters to deal with. He had given his brother a beating for his betrayal and once he learned about Mikael’s death and Stefan Salvatore’s actions against their family, he knew that he had his work cut out for him. It seemed like he was always cleaning up his family’s messes, and he didn’t mind doing so.
Once he and Niklaus had convinced Stefan to have dinner with them, they civilly seated themselves at the dining table in uneasy silence. That was, until his brother broke the ice.
“Brother, I don’t believe I’ve already mentioned that I’ve come across someone quite interesting.”
“Spare me the stories of your conquests, brother,” Elijah said, humor evident in his voice. “We all know you have a healthy appetite.”
“Please. Our brother would have my hide if I’d tried anything with this person.”
“Wait, are you talking about Isa?” Damon piped up. “I thought she was engaged to you, Elijah.”
“Isa?” Elijah blinked at Damon before looking at his brother. “Is this true?”
Klaus took a sip of his bourbon. “I told you Mikael was dead. Isa killed him.”
“Isa killed… how? Why? How?” He didn’t believe this. If Isa was still alive, that would have meant that she was turned around the time that they had been, which was ridiculous. “We didn’t learn that our blood could turn other people into vampires until…”
“I know, so this is quite interesting,” he smirked. “Would our brother know what he’s done?”
“Hardly, otherwise he would have come for her, go on a quest to find her before you daggered him,” Elijah replied as he started to cut his meat. “He was quite infatuated with her.” He then looked at Stefan and Damon. “You’re acquainted with her?”
“More or less,” Damon replied, his hand instinctively moving towards his groin area. “She’s nuts. She’s worse than nuts. She’s certifiable.”
“Has Elena met her?”
At the mention of Elena, Stefan visibly cringed. Damon grinned as he pointed at his brother. “Best not to mention Elena even further, love on the rocks and all, but yes. And she’s still alive. Mikael thought that was quite the accomplishment.”
“Oh, the allure of the Petrova doppelganger,” Klaus mused. “Shall we tell them about Tatia, brother?”
“There’s that name again.” Damon poked his brother and pointed at Klaus. “Out of the mouth of babes. So it is true, the little nymph is as old as it gets.”
“Happy now?” Stefan shot at his brother. “We already knew this.”
“Isa told us that Tatia had a habit of becoming between brothers,” Damon said, all giddy with new information to play with. He liked to antagonize his brother, and the woman was obviously a sore spot for the Mikaelsons, so this was going to be fun. “She called Elena names, even Katherine, but I believe they duked it out above Mikael’s coffin.”
“Tatia was an exquisite beauty,” Elijah explained, ignoring the three scowls at the table. “Every boy of age wanted to be her suitor, despite having a child by another man. Niklaus was infatuated by her.”
“You sound like you were too,” Damon pointed out. “No offense. And should we be worried about you coming on to Elena?”
“No,” Elijah smiled. “I assure you, I have no interest in Ms. Gilbert.”
“Wait a minute,” Stefan spoke up. “You both loved the same girl?”
“Isa was correct in mentioning that Tatia knew her way around men, and how to wrap them around her fingers,” he replied, taking a sip of his drink. “Our mother used Tatia’s blood to bind the curse that created us and Niklaus and I were quite harsh towards each other for quite some time as Tatia didn’t wish to choose between us. But we worked our way through, because it’s family above all.”
“Always and Forever,” Klaus said with a nod.
As the evening moved along, Elijah realized that the proposal was fair. In return for the coffin, the Original family would move out of Mystic Falls and never return. Thus, leaving Elena Gilbert. Niklaus wasn’t having any of it. Why would he want to leave behind the one person who could help him create more hybrids?
Things came to a blow, of course, and now he was on fetching duty with Damon. “You know, Isa’s been waiting for her beloved for a very long time,” Damon said to start a conversation with Elijah as they were biding their time a few blocks away as part of their plan. Damon had removed the dagger out of Elijah earlier and left a note that they should talk. It was the only thing he could have done, because Stefan needed saving. Stefan was no fun like this. Damon preferred him on animal blood and not on a very messy revenge kick.
“That’s ridiculous. She should have moved on by now.”
“Love can make you do crazy things. Like talking to trees.”
“Counting every brick in New Orleans in your case, isn’t it?” Elijah countered with an amused smile on his lips. “We’ve come across your… leftover in the past.”
“She’s still alive?”
“Perhaps. I can’t be certain as I haven’t returned to New Orleans for a very long time.”
“That would be nuts.”
“Just as talking to trees indeed,” he countered. “My brother and Isa were being set up to get wed, but unlike most arranged marriages, they truly loved each other. They complimented each other’s madness and lifted each other up. Their relationship made them different. It was almost as if two halves had become whole. Only time was their enemy; Mikael and Isa’s father had yet to come to an agreement for her dowery.”
“So why are you and Klaus so freaked out by her?”
“She’s an unknown element. We believed we knew the origin of every sire line. It appears that we have been wrong about my brother’s for a very long time. She’s older than Niklaus’ first sire.”
“So who’s the brother?”
“Ah, that would be telling,” Elijah said amused. “I am certain that once Niklaus will remove the daggers from the remaining members of our family, he’d want to look for her in peace.”
“Do you Mikaelsons do anything in peace?”
“Of course. Granted, Isa’s beloved was nicknamed a happy homicidal maniac by Niklaus. He and Niklaus slaughtered an entire tenement building in New Orleans for sport, so I am not certain he—”
“Yeah, you know what? Before you remove the dagger, just make sure that Isa’s there so he doesn’t have to go looking for her. Before he kills half of Mystic Falls,” Damon said quickly, already fearing for the safety of most of his friendly humans.
“Does she want to be found?”
“Probably not, but she made a mistake.”
“Which is?”
“She showed me her cabin,” Damon smiled widely and turned around go back to the house for the second part of their plan. This was going to be glorious. “Hold on.” Damon stopped in his tracks. “If we’re really doing this, we should get her now.”
“Or,” Elijah mused. “No doubt Niklaus would want to organize a ball in our honor. How about we ensure that the official reunion of the Mikaelson family becomes even more magical? You could bring Isa as a date.”
“Ew.”
“Please, as a surprise for my brother. I assure you, tonight is going to be a night for family only. We all have our grievances with Niklaus and Isa would only get in the way.”
“No. Not me, absolutely not. The bitch broke my dick. After it healed, I wasn’t able to jack off for a week. I had actually started to doubt if I could ever be able to sport wood again!”
“Would you rather leave someone as… delicate as dear Isa in Stefan’s hands?”
“She’d kill him.”
“Exactly.”
“Fine. But you’ll owe me one.”
“Of course,” Elijah said with a knowing smile. He couldn’t wait to one up his brother. Whoever said that he was the dull one, had to think again. Elijah was able to be mischievous, just like his brothers.
.-.-.-.-.
Mystic Falls, 1001
“That was quite messy,” Kol smirked as he lay in the grass, watching the sky as he held the hand of his beloved. She was the most beautiful creature that has ever graced the Earth, even more beautiful than his sister Rebekah, or that harlot Tatia.
“You wished to see if bigger cuts made all the difference with your spell, and it did,” she simply stated, sighing happily because of the high she was currently experiencing. “More blood, more strength, more colours.”
“It’s still messy.”
“Then try something without blood, why do you men always have to see so much blood?” She rolled onto her stomach and poked him in his chest with her bandaged hand. “Speaking of blood,” she continued with a smile as she kept poking him. “I overheard Ayana asking Tatia for her blood. You should have seen the look on Tatia’s face, the look of sheer horror!”
“The bloody wench deserves it.”
“Watch your language,” Isa giggled as she put her hand over his mouth. “The Gods do not appreciate such a tongue.”
Smirking, he playfully bit her hand so she’d remove it from his mouth. “Dearest, you and I are meddling with forces of Nature, do your Gods approve of those?”
“No.”
“Then I believe it is time for you to worship a different deity,” he kissed the top of her head and looked back up to the sky. “Hurry, the spell is fading.”
With a sigh, Isa fell back on her back and watched as the colours faded slowly, revealing yet again the sun in its full glory. “Do it again.”
“No. Mother would not approve. Neither would Father. He believes I should be a warrior, like him, so I can provide for my future wife,” he sighed and squeezed her hand as he kept looking up, the sun now blinding him. “Perhaps he is right.”
Isa huffed as she shielded her eyes with her hand. “I’ll be the warrior and provide for us while you practise your magic and become the healer of our village.”
“Or perhaps I should become a warrior and a healer.”
“No. I would not appreciate to see your handsome features hurt by violence,” she rolled onto her side again and idly traced his jawline with her finger. “Should we be wed, then I shall provide for us.”
Kol laughed heartily and pulled her in for a kiss. They often sneaked away from the village together to practise his magic. Isa wasn’t magical, she tried the best that she could, but there was no ounce of magic inside of her. She was a phenomenal cook, he would be well-fed should their fathers decide that it was time for them to get wed. Their children would grow up strong and healthy because of her ways of preparing a great meal.
He’d always longed for more, he wanted more than to simply kiss her. Why wait until their wedding night? They already knew that they were going to be together until the day that they died. His Isa with her beautiful brown hair, always braided so nicely. His princess. He had begged his Father to press on with the wedding, but he was simply not allowed to wed before any of his older brothers did and he thought it wasn’t fair.
.-.-.-.-.
“You clean up nice,” Damon said to Isa as he watched her in the dress that Elijah had bought her. She had done her hair up and she actually looked presentable.
“I still don’t understand why you insisted on me going with you to this… ball,” she replied as she wrinkled his nose. “You made me feed on animals again to be able to deal with people.”
“I didn’t want to be lonely,” Damon explained. “And don’t make me feel sorry for you. You broke my dick.”
“Language,” she muttered as she straightened the dress. “Fine, but I’m not going to wear those shoes.”
“Yes, you are going to wear those shoes because it’s a formal ball.”
“Would you like me to formally unman you again?”
“Fine, whatever,” Damon threw his hands up in defeat. “Enough admiring yourself in the mirror. Let’s go, we don’t want to be late.” He grabbed her arm and started to pull her along. He had been careful as not to mention the Mikaelsons, nor the fact that everyone was out of the box. This was going to be a surprise to her, and to her beloved, whomever he might be. He figured it would be Finn. Kol didn’t look the sort to like nice girls.
In all honesty, she had been starving herself. She didn’t want to live anymore. Not without her Kol. The mere thought of him hurt and not even the trees could console her. She had done her duty in protecting the Salvatore brothers and she had saved Niklaus from a certain death and now she was done. When Damon asked her to come with him to some ball, she reluctantly said yes, even though it meant that she had to feed again.
Maybe, after the ball was over, she was going to ask him to kill her. Yes. That was a much quicker way than to starve herself. Complete destruction. Her candle had fizzled out, it was just that the reality still had to catch up with her.
The plan was to stick close to Damon and not make a fool out of herself. No dancing. No drinking, because too much alcohol meant she’d make a fool out of herself. Stick to what she knew and maybe slink out the back door when Damon wasn’t looking. The plan was perfect.
The plan was perfect right until she noticed that it was Niklaus who greeted them at the door and she smacked Damon on the cheek. “You told me we were going to a ball!”
“We are!”
“No!”
“Yes!” Damon firmly grabbed her arm and struggled to pull her forward towards Klaus. “Hey, Klaus. Look who I brought.”
“No, no no no no,” Isa begged Damon as she tried to stop him from pulling her in even further. “No, I can’t… no… please. It hurts.” It hurt that Niklaus was walking around freely with Elijah and Rebekah. It hurt that she hadn’t seen her beloved in so long and she wasn’t going to. And now Damon had taken her to a ball orchestrated by Niklaus and it hurt. It hurt. “No. Let go of me.”
“Isa.” Damon grabbed her other arm and made her face him. “Trust me.”
She snapped then. She pushed Damon into Niklaus and bolted. The dress made it hard for her to run, but she was going to. She was going to run until she couldn’t anymore and then die. It was one thing to long for someone who’d never return, it was treason to take her to the one place she’d rather not be.
Damon was chasing her, but even with the dress, she was faster. She had hundreds of years on him and if he’d come any closer, she’d kill him. She ran inside a church and gasped. It was packed with a lot of people for some sort of service and she was shocked. She had thought it would be empty, that it would be a good hiding spot – churches were never a good hiding spot because vampires could enter it.
When the father, the priest or pastor or whatever he was, approached her, she felt her true face bleed out and lunged at him, ripping out his throat in front of his congregation. She caught them all as they tried to flee, the adrenaline rushing through her veins, the rush of human blood was intoxicating and she was able to forget what had happened only moments before.
Both Damon and Elijah stood in the doorway with their mouths open once they had caught up with Isa. Kol was on his way, but he’d snuck off to do his own thing. “This is not my fault.” Damon stated as he watched his woodnymph slaughter every single person in the church. He ducked when intestines were flung his way. “For once, this isn’t my fault. This is all on you.”
“I had not expected this to happen,” Elijah muttered. “Isa was always such an easy going girl.”
“What part of breaking my dick didn’t you understand, Mr. Original Vampire?” Damon shot at him. “Go stop her!”
Elijah caught the expression in Isa’s eyes and shook his head. “I don’t believe I’ll be able to help her at this moment. It appears that she’s going through some sort of mental breakdown and even I won’t be able to reach her.”
“Peachy. Just peachy,” Damon pushed the human running towards him away, back into the mess that was piling up in the middle of the church. At least she was nice and stacked the bodies.
“She’s survived on animal blood only for the last thousand years. No doubt every synapse in her brain is firing off impulses at random.”
“More like misfiring,” Damon muttered as he was pushed aside by Kol who had a dumbstruck look on his face. “Not my fault!” Damon insisted, not wanting to face the wrath of an Original. “This is all on your brother.”
“I couldn’t believe it when Nik said… what… how?” Kol looked at his brother. “Why didn’t I know she was still around? Who turned her?”
“We believe you did, brother,” Elijah calmly explained. “Tell me, did you part with your blood with her as you usually did when you went away?”
“Oh crap,” Kol gasped. “Yes. Oh. Oh man.”
“So in you go, Casanova,” Damon said, giving Kol a slight push. “Calm her down.”
Kol growled and grabbed Damon’s arm, only to break it before calmly walking into the church. Isa was almost done devouring the humans and she wasn’t even bothering anymore. “You are such a gluttonous pig, nothing has changed, has it?”
Isa rose then, her dress ruined with blood, blood was all over her body and on her face. There were tiny bits of brain matter lodged in her hair and she was a right mess. She slapped Kol across the face, hard. “How dare you!” She breezed before she started to punch him in the chest, the hits coming with rapid succession. “You told me to stay here and wait for you and I’ve waited for a thousand years! You never came!” She screeched as the blood on her face was now mixing in with the tears. “It hurt so much! Every time I thought of you or every time I saw your brother, it hurt! My heart ached for you and you never… you never came!”
“It’s not as if I knew you’d still be around!”
“I had so much hope in the first hundred years. Surely you’d come back for me. Surely you’d have noticed that I had gone through the change. Ayana told me you’d left for the Old World and I didn’t believe her but you did, didn’t you? You went off galavanting and traveling the world!”
“We were running away!”
“And you left me!” She pushed him hard, flinging him across the church. He ended up smacking his head against the feet of the Jesus figure at the cross. “I stayed behind like you told me to, even after I didn’t have to anymore when I died and came back, because you said you’d be back! I made sure that our village rebuilt. I made sure that everything would be perfect for the time you’d come back. I never looked for another lover because you’re all I wanted!”
“Yeah well, what about me? Have you ever stopped and wondered what happened to me? My brother daggered me for decades on end! Niklaus took over the bully role and it wasn’t pretty! We were on the run, Isa. Not having fun!”
She roared as she hit him hard. “The trees told me about your adventures in New Orleans. How was that not fun? And what about your other travels? Sure, I received word many years after you’d been somewhere, but you went and had fun! Without me! Spain! France! Africa!”
“Stop hitting me,” he growled as he finally managed to grab her hands and held them tightly. “Trees? Seriously? You’re talking to trees?”
She kicked his shins and then kneed him in the groin.
“Oh, watch the nuts. Watch the nuts,” Damon said encouragingly. “Trust me. Watch them.”
“At least they never left me! Ezekiel was hurt when Damon kicked him across the forest months ago, but he’s doing better now. He even gets little branches now and I think they’ll bloom in spring.”
Kol looked at Damon and raised his eyebrow. “You kicked Ezekiel, huh?”
“Eh,” Damon shrugged. “Your girl is a little bit coo-coo for cocoa puffs.”
“I know, I love that cereal, why do you think I wanted her in the first place?”
“Dude, they weren’t even around in your time!”
“I invented it!” Kol smirked as he looked at Isa. She had significantly calmed down, but was still trying to hurt him. “Darling, you can’t hurt me.”
Her head snapped up then, her eyes meeting his and she punched a hole in his chest, holding his heart between her delicate fingers.
“Ow. Yes. Souped up on humans. I get it. You can let go now.” He held up his hand to his brother to stay away, Kol had everything under control. Or so he hoped. “Isa, look at me.”
She squeezed his heart in an attempt to make it hurt as much as her heart had hurt over the years as she looked up to him.
“Let go of me, darling,” he said as he compelled her. “You’ve made your point. I understand. Everything’s okay now and we will catch up in a civil matter. You don’t have to hurt me to let me know that I’ve hurt you.”
She looked at him for a moment, before releasing his heart and pulling her hand back. She wiped it on her dress and nodded. “I’m still cross.”
“I understand, but we have a ball to get back to. I am certain Mother would love to see your beautiful face again,” he moved his face closer to hers and softly kissed her lips. “I truly have missed you.”
“Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I promise.”
“So does this mean that I don’t have to make sure that she stays out of trouble? I can leave her in your capable hands?” Damon quipped as Isa and Kol made their way towards them.
“Excuse you,” Isa said as she looped her arm through Kol’s. “Who’s keeping who out of trouble? I mean, without me, you and Stefan would have killed each other by now or gotten killed by Nik or even by Mikael. Who, by the way, I killed.”
“Yeah, only because you snapped my neck!”
“You and Stefan would only ruin it,” she replied simply before looking up at Kol. “I do hope Rebekah has a spare dress for me to wear, I highly doubt your mother would approve of us arriving at her ball like this.”
“Of course, whatever you want, my love,” he kissed the top of her head.
“I want intercourse,” she said plainly as they walked into the street. “And not like our first time together. I want you to pay attention to my attributes and make me feel wanted.”
“Of course.”
Elijah blinked. He wanted to stay close to his unstable brother and his even more unstable lover, but he didn’t want to hear of his brother’s exploits. He did feel for Isa though, if she only had sex once in a thousand years, she must feel ready to explode by now.
Kol lead Isa back inside the house through the back as not to alert everyone to their current state, and Elijah headed straight for the drinks bar. He needed something stronger than champagne, and he was joined by Damon.
“How did the reunion go?” Klaus asked his brother as he, too, went for something strong. “Did the lovebirds kiss and makeup?”
Elijah threw back his glass and had a refill before he spoke. “If you have an arsonist on speed dial, Niklaus, I suggest you call them right to set fire to the church.”
“Unbelievable. We let him out to reunite with his long lost love and he eats a church?”
“No,” he downed the glass. “Isa did.”
“Isa? Sweet, caring and loving Isa?”
“Oh yeah,” Damon piped up. “She snapped and she snapped good.”
“I thought she was on an animal diet.”
“The obvious word being was,” Elijah said as he had his glass refilled again. “Now, if you would excuse me, I need to get sufficiently drunk to forget that I overheard what I have in the last five minutes.”
“Oh, do tell, brother,” Klaus said with a big grin on his face.
“I’d rather not.”
.-.-.-.-.
Vienna, Austria, December 25th, 2012
Kol was still asleep, but Isa had been awake for a few hours now, watching the sun rise over the mountains, how the sun moved across the snow with a pretty light show. After all the drama in Mystic Falls with the Vampire Hunter, which almost got Kol killed – and he would have been killed if it wasn’t for Isa. Then there was Silas the immortal – which she and Kol were fighting hard against but their protests had fallen onto deaf ears with serious ramifications, she and him decided that they were going to leave Mystic Falls and explore the world.
She had never been outside the United States before, and she was having a blast. She believed Kol was too, at least by staying away from Niklaus ensured his safety, that he wouldn’t be put back in the coffin again. They went back, on occasion, but never stayed for too long as there was always something new to explore, mayhem to create. Blood to be shared.
While Kol was no longer a witch, as he was a vampire, they still liked to play with blood. Preferably their own, but playing with their victims was great too. Just last night, they had painted ‘Kol loves Isa’ in the groundskeeper’s blood in the snow, but so much more had fallen during the night that it was invisible. But the knowledge that it was there, meant so much to her.
Their cabin was isolated and they were surrounded by walls of snow. Layer upon layer and while she should feel suffocated as there was no place to go unless they put some effort into it, she felt safe and content. Her love was sprawled out across the bed, completely naked, as the fireplace heated their room.
She wanted to give him some more moments of sleep, but she simply couldn’t help herself and pulled herself away from the window. Isa quietly crawled onto the bed and gently took hold of his cock before placing a gentle kiss on its head. Kol quietly moaned, which gave her a good reason to start sucking and squeezing. She was going to make sure that this was a Christmas they both weren’t going to forget.
Isa kept her eyes on Kol’s features as she paid attention to his length and she realized that she hadn’t been this happy for a very long time. Of course, her past hurt not forgotten, but he did absolutely everything in his power to make up for it, and it was like old times. As if no time had passed at all. Their in-jokes were still in play, their combined craziness still that and she had rediscovered her love for cooking. When not feeding on humans, she was cooking him a meal. Their apartment in Los Angeles had an entire room dedicated to books, and at the moment most of the books were cookbooks.
Yes, they were vampires, that didn’t mean that they had to run around being uncultured.
She noticed that Kol was nearly there, his breathing had become shallow and his eyes were actually now fixated on hers and she let out a hum of approval before she worked him harder and he came in her mouth.
“Merry fucking Christmas, my love,” he breathed once he had found coherency again. Kol pulled her up to him and kissed her, hard, tasting himself on her lips. He used the distraction to get something from underneath the pillow and broke off the kiss as he looked at her. “Would you please marry me?”
