Red Queen ▻ The Originals [1]

1

New Orleans, 1734

     It was the night of the full moon in New Orleans. The winter air made it feel freezing outside and snow fell from the evening sky. During that time, large predatory creatures roamed around the bayou, in search of prey. More specifically, in search of vampires.

  Ophelia was amongst those creatures. She was both a werewolf and a witch, had been for her whole life. Now, she was almost twenty years of age, living in the bayou with her mother and her pack, and also with her father and his coven. Her mother was born a werewolf while her father was born a witch. Ophelia was the only person that anyone knew of that were both witch and werewolf. Her younger sister, Amelia, had been born with just the werewolf gene, not her father's witch side. Their older half-brother, Jacque, shared the same father, but a different mother, making him be born as just a witch.

Soon enough, the full moon had passed over, allowing the whole entire Crescent Wolf Pack to turn back into their human forms. Ophelia's eyes glowed fluorescent yellow as she began to turn back. Her paws turned back into human feet and the fur that had covered her body during that night while she was a wolf turned back to her usual, soft, light skin.

Once back into human form, Ophelia found herself lying naked on the cold, hard ground, which had been covered in snow. Ophelia hated having to turn during this part of the year. The frequent snowing during winter made it unbearable when she had to turn back and find her way back home, unclothed.

She stood up, her joints cracking a bit as she got used to standing on two legs once more. She rubbed her biceps with her hands, shivering from the freezing cold. Snow was still falling from the sky, some of which covered her dark brown hair that was messy from all of the running around she formerly did.

Ophelia looked around at her surroundings, finding herself not where she usually ended up when she turned back. It wasn't the bayou like she presumed it to be, it was the town part of New Orleans. She sighed in frustration, hearing the sound of people talking amongst themselves from afar.

"Dammit." She muttered quietly under her breath, "How am I supposed to walk through the town naked?"

Ophelia found herself walking through the dark shadows without anyone noticing. She made her way into a dark alley and could instantly smell fresh blood coming from somewhere nearby.

  Ophelia noticed two figures standing a couple hundred feet away from her. She squinted her eyes to get a better look, only to see that it was a man feeding on a woman. His hands were tightly gripped onto the female's arms as he had his fangs dug into her neck. The girl let him feed off of her, causing Ophelia to realize that she was compelled.

Ophelia stood in place, watching as the man continued to feed on the innocent girl. She figured he must not have noticed her, but she was wrong though, the man knew she was there, he just didn't care.

Ophelia was quiet for a long moment, staring directly at him as she didn't move a single muscle. She shut her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before opening her eyes once more, "Hey!" Ophelia spoke up loudly, causing the male to pull away from the girl.

He lifted his head up, letting go of the girl. He let the girl fall to the ground without a care in the world before he turned to face Ophelia. He had blood covering the bottom part of his face and also his neck. He sure was a messy eater. Ophelia had to admit, once getting a good look at him, she realized that he was actually pretty good looking for a bloodsucking vampire.

Throughout her life, Ophelia was taught to hate these creatures, that they were their enemy. She wondered why though, what happened between the two species that made them become such enemies?

The male looked to be about the same age as her. He had dirty blonde hair and dark blue eyes to match it. He seemed to be about average from what she could tell. The man had a mischievous grin plastered on his face as he went into his pocket and took out a handkerchief. He kept that look on his face as he wiped some of the blood from his face, "Yes, love?" He replied in a calm tone, ignoring the fact that the girl in front of him was completely naked. His eyes quickly scanned her body, making Ophelia roll her eyes at him, "May I ask why you're naked?"

"No time for me to answer your stupid questions, bloodsucker," Ophelia lowly growled at him before she looked down at the lifeless body of the girl the man had been previously feeding on, "Give me those clothes."

The man laughed at her. He vamp sped over to her, figuring that she would flinch or become scared. Ophelia was the complete opposite. She stood with her head raised high, showing no fear, "What manners you have, sweetheart." He commented sarcastically.

  He looked up at the sky to see that moon was up, but just starting to go away, "I take it that you are a werewolf?" He questioned and Ophelia stayed silent, not telling him a single word.

He let out a sigh to break the silence between them. He glanced over at the dead body, "Her clothes are drenched in blood, you can't put them and just walk through the French Quarter without causing a spectacle. Let me take you to my family's house, I can give you some of my sister's clothes. Then, you can go on your merrily way."

Ophelia tilted her head as she gave him a puzzled look, noticing how he didn't seem so genuine with his offer. She figured he was just trying to get the chance to murder her in private, "Do you really think I would go anywhere with you? I literally just met you. And, I just witnessed you feed on a defenseless girl!" She shouted angrily, "I don't even know your name."

  The man seemed amused by her tone of voice. He then left lifted his hand and held it out for Ophelia to shake, "I'm Klaus Mikaelson." He introduced himself to her with a smile.

Ophelia's eyes widened when she heard the man's name. Klaus Mikaelson. He was one of the originals and had a big reputation for slaughtering thousands over the course of seven centuries. He was born to a witch mother and werewolf father. The opposite of her situation with her parents. But unlike her, his werewolf side was made dormant. People also said he used everyone he knew and had very bad trust issues, daggering his siblings whenever they wronged him. He was also said that he was a psycho, which was clear to Ophelia now, "I take it you've heard about my family and I?" He questioned curiously.

Ophelia lowly growled under her breath before she roughly pushed past Klaus . Klaus frowned in confusion, grabbing her by the arm to stop her, "And where do you think you're going, love, we were in the middle of talking—" Klaus began to ask her.

Suddenly, with a wave of her hand, Ophelia had used her magic to throw Klaus into the air. He landed several hundred feet away from her. Klaus stared up at her, completely shocked, "How is that possible? You're a werewolf..." He trailed off before his eyes widened in realization, "You're her. The girl whose both werewolf and witch. The hybrid."

Ophelia smirked in satisfaction when she heard him figure out who she was, "The name's Ophelia. Ophelia Labonair or Claire, whichever you prefer more, both have people shaking when they hear it." She introduced herself before she shut her eyes, concentrating on the spell she was about to perform "Invisique."

Ophelia suddenly vanished from Klaus view. He quickly got up from the ground, still completely shocked as he glanced around.

  Ophelia figured that would be the last she would see of the vampire, but of course, Klaus Mikaelson thought the opposite. He wanted to know more. And that's exactly what he got.

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AN: Horrible First Chapter but I wanted to get in a flashback before I started the actual book and I felt like it would be a better first chapter rather than a prologue.