Rantipole | THE VAMPIRE DIARIES [COMPLETED] (1)

ninety four | the feast of all sinners

Just as Rebekah was about to respond, Kai hung up on her and looked up from the phone to see Annabelle, Dorothy and Joseph staring over at him with furrowed eyebrows.

With his own eyebrows furrowed, Kai replied, "What?"

Annabelle, Dorothy and Joseph shared a look with each other before they slowly looked away from Kai, who was still quite confused as to why they were even looking at him like that.

* * *

1605, A.D.

After eyeing the family that was bound to their chairs and had cloths shoved in their mouths to keep anyone from hearing their screams, William asked Annabelle, "So, this is what you wanted to show me?" When Annabelle didn't respond and silently stared at the family that were seated in front of her, he asked her, "Just how long have you been doing this sort of thing?"

As she went to crouch down in front of a young woman, Annabelle replied, "A lot longer than you have been alive, William."

He asked her, "Why even show this to me? I mean, this is your game and you're the one who's enjoyed going through families and tearing them apart for your own amusement or whatever other reason you have for doing it. So why show me this?"

As she forcefully moved the young woman's head aside, Annabelle told him, "Because it's been over a hundred years since I turned you and you chose to travel with me and my family. I only believed it to be fair that I show you my greatest accomplishment in life ever since my siblings and I were made to be this." When William didn't respond, she turned to him and said, "Unless, of course, you would prefer that I don't share this with you. If that's the case, then you can go on your merry way and I'll do with this lot as I want."

Instead of immediately responding, William remained silent as he grabbed at the folded piece of paper that was shoved deep into his pocket.

And as he thought over the vampire that had approached him and told him what he needed to do, if he was going to be spending his immortal life traveling with the Mikaelsons, William looked over at Annabelle, who had an eyebrow raised as she waited for his response.

While choosing to ignore the words of the vampire that were practically imprinted into his mind, William replied, "Of course not, Annabelle. I would like nothing more than to learn from you."

With a smile on her face, Annabelle started to tell William everything he needed to know about the game she had created nearly five-hundred years ago, while William only hoped that the older vampire that had approached him only days earlier had no ill intentions towards Annabelle.

Because as much as William had hated it, the one now known as the unstable Original had grown on him, and he would hate it if something bad were to happen to her.

* * *

With a grin on his face, Kol said, "You're finally awake."

With a smile on her own face, Annabelle replied, "I am."

He asked her, "How do you feel, sister?"

With a frown now on her face, she said, "I-I don't know. I still feel empty." After letting out a sigh, she said, "I had dealt with my own personal demons from the moment Esther and Mikael had chosen to hurt me when we were six, and those same sort of demons only worsened the moment we were all made into vampires. And for over a thousand years, and now that they're gone, I don't know what to do with myself."

When Kol's eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at his sister, Annabelle told him, "Don't misunderstand me, Kol. I am glad that those constant tormentors of mine are gone, just as they should have been for over a thousand years, but it's different, knowing that they are no longer there. I mean, they had been a part of me for over a thousand years. I honestly believe that it's going to take a while before I fully come to terms with the idea that I have complete and total control over my own actions now, instead of my anger and my demons being the things that control me." After letting out a sigh, she said, "And from what you've told me about what our brothers and our little sister are willing to do in order to have the Hollow taken out of Hope and kept out of her, I can't rely on you or our other siblings to help me come to terms with it and to find who I am as a person."