New Orleans, Louisiana
1887
"Brother," Elijah's voice echoed around the room. "If I may introduce to you a wonderful friend of mine. Klaus, this is Clara Forbes."
"Ah," the blonde man hummed, smiling as he walked to our direction. "You must be the girl Elijah has been writing about for the past years." He took my hand and a laid a kiss over it, causing me to smile kindly. "I never thought he would get over Celeste so...so easily."
"It is a pleasure to meet you," I said, bowing my head lightly and ignoring his words. "Elijah has spoken about you many times."
"Good things, I hope," he grinned.
"The best," Elijah agreed, smiling. It was one of the few times I had seen him truly happy. He was never so happy than the times he spent with his family, he once told me. And from the sight of each brother grinning, I could tell that it was true.
"Tell me about yourself, Clara," Klaus said when we took a seat in the parlour of their manor. "Elijah said he found you destroying towns, which is very interesting in my book."
"I was mourning, you could say," I chuckled, looking down at the cup of tea on my lap. "It had been merely five years since I turned and yet I was mourning my human life; killing both the innocent and the criminal, destroying town after town as if they were a simple afternoon meal. It all changed after Elijah found me, of course. He made me realize that there was more to this hunger." I glanced over at Elijah, smiling.
"My brother, the honourable stag," Klaus chuckled, staring at his brother. "One can just expect the best from him. Isn't that right, Elijah?"
"Where is our dear sister, Klaus?" Elijah asked, suddenly changing the conversation. "It's been fifty-two years since I last saw her."
"Sleeping," he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "You know how she enjoys her slumber."
"Hmm," Elijah hummed, nodding. "Wonderful. Clara, why don't you take a stroll through the gardens? They're wonderful this time of year."
"Won't you come with me?" I asked, reaching my hand in his direction.
He took my hand and smiled, laying a gentle kiss on my knuckles. "I'll accompany you after I speak with my dear brother."
I made a face, pouting my lips with a playful smile around my lips. "Alright," I breathed. "'ll be expecting you in the gardens." I left the room and made my way out the house. When we first walked into the manor grounds, Elijah had pointed out the gardens in the back. And from what I could see, everything was big.
There was a stone path leading to the centre, where a pond as big as a small lake with flowering lily pads and a wooden bridge that crossed the middle so you could look down at the koi carp. The flower beds were a riot of May colour and even on close inspection they were weed-free. The pond-side air was pungent with the fragrance of jasmine. This was no natural basin filled with melt water, but the luxury addition to a formal garden by someone with both copious leisure time and money.
I stepped closure to the ledge and crouched down. From six feet up the surface was an opaque green, but from just two it was clear enough to see the plants and life below the surface. I dipped the tips of my fingers on the water. For such a hot day, the water was cold.
"I had expected the highly coloured Japanese koi carp," Klaus's voice rang around me. "And I wasn't disappointed. If anything, I was impressed." He chuckled and stepped besides me, looking down at the pond.
The carp were just as long as his arm, maybe even bigger. I smiled and gazed at the wind-ruffled surface to the lily pads in bloom,their white and magenta petals catching the breeze. I inhaled softly, and my nose was filled once again with the pungent smell of jasmine.
"How is it that you have such luxurious gardens, Mr. Mikaelson?" I asked, glancing over at him.
"Klaus," he corrected. "Mr. Mikaelson is too formal. And, to answer your question, I enjoy gardening."
I arched a brow and stared at him. "I don't believe you," I huffed, glancing back at the pond. "Your hands are too clean for gardening."
"Oh, my hands are in no way clean."
"I meant from dirt," I chuckled. "I'm well aware that you're hands are not clean from blood, Klaus, because neither are mine. You know that very well from Elijah's letters."
"Hmm," he hummed nodding. "Tell me, why have you stayed with Elijah for all these years? Are you looking to gain the favour of the Originals?"
"What?" I raised a brow and looked at him. "Gain favour with the Originals? What do you mean, Klaus?"
"Don't play games with me, Gwenhwyvar!" he yelled, grabbing me by the arms. "How are you still alive?"
"Klaus, you're hurting me!" I yelped, trying to push away from his hold. He was stronger than any vampire I had met, maybe even Elijah. "Klaus!"
"Klaus!" Elijah's voice rang through the garden. Klaus's hands were pushed away from my arms, and I fell back. I looked up to see Elijah holding back his brother, glaring down at him. "Calm yourself down, brother."
"Do you think you can fool me, Elijah?" Klaus spat. "Bringing her to my home as if I weren't to know who she was!"
"You are wrong!" Elijah corrected. "This is not who you think it is. This girl was born in 1844, in Mystic Falls, Virginia. She is not who you think she is."
"Who is Gwenhwyvar?" I asked, glancing at Elijah. "He called me that, Elijah! who is she?"
"No one," he answered, continuing to glare down at his brother. "Clara, she is no one you need to know." He looked over at me and let a small smile spread around his lips. "No one you need to worry about. Klaus just made a mistake, no more."
"Yes," Klaus said from between his lips. "It was just a mistake. Pardon me, Miss Forbes."
I continued to look at the brothers, breathing deeply. Something bothered me as I stared at the brothers. Why did Klaus call me Gwenhwyvar? Who was she? Was she the reason Elijah had been keeping track of my kills? It all ran through my mind for the rest of the day, including the few others that passed.
My stay at the Mikaelson Manor was healthy. The house was bright, the rooms were comfortable, and I spent much of my time in the garden with a book to read. There was a room filled with Elijah's collection of books, and they were all interesting. So, as the days passed by, I sat under a tree and read. I read as if it was the only thing keeping me comfort, and it was. Elijah spent most of the days with his brother and a boy named Marcellus. The boy was also a vampire, the adopted son and protégé of Klaus. He spent most of the time with the brothers.
There were nights where I would sneak to Elijah's bedroom, where we would spend the nights kissing and laughing and speaking about the events that occurred throughout the day. Elijah's fingers moved gently through my cheek, and it felt warm and calming. It was those times where I would forget about the past and think of the long future I spent with him.
Was I in love with Elijah? No. I had promised myself to never fall in love again, and I had yet to break that promise. The relationship I had with Elijah was one where we both wanted to forget about our feelings. I had only loved one man in my lifetime, he had only loved two women in his lifetime. While I had only loved Damon, he had loved a woman named Tatia and a witch named Celeste. We had spoken about them one of those nights where we both laid on a bed half naked and drunk on wine and kisses.
What we had wasn't a relationship that was filled with love. Our relationship was a healing one, where we both were in it because we were sad. There were no romantic feelings, but there were feelings of that of care. We cared for each other, and I preferred those feelings to the one of love.
Those times I was alone, I began to search for the name Gwenhwyvar, the name Klaus called me in the gardens. From the little information I had gotten from the books, it was the Welsh form of the French name Guinevere. It was pronounced the same way, though spelt completely different. That was not the information I desired, so I continued to look through the books. One of my searches, came across an old book with a drawing between the pages. It was an old, well-preserved drawing that seemed to date before civilization. There was something written at the bottom in a language I did not know how to read.
Behind the drawing, there were three other drawings. They were as preserved as the first one I had found, perfect. The first drawing was labelled Ileana Drăculea, Wallachia, Kingdom of Hungary, 1438. The second drawing was labelled Anastasia Romanovna, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1563. The third drawing was labelled Marine Antoinette Le Normant d'Étioles, Paris, Kingdom of France, 1712. I stared at the drawings for a long time, and then marched out of the room with them in hand.
I marched through the manor, passing by servants who stared at me curiously. My skirt of my dress was huddled up between my hands, along with the three drawings. Elijah spent most of his time in the study with Klaus, Marcellus, and his sister, Rebekah. I marched in, slamming the door open. The four of them stared at me curiously, especially Elijah.
"Clara," he greeted, surprise evident in his voice. "Is something the matter?"
I slammed the pictures on the table and glared at him. "Why do these women look like me?" I asked, my hands shaking. "Tell me, Elijah, why do these women look like me?"
"Where did you find these?" he questioned, lifting the papers up.
"Between the pages of a book," I responded, glancing at the three other figures. "Elijah, please tell me why do these women look like me."
"Look like you?" questioned Rebekah, a small smirk around her lips. "You should be asking why do you look like them."
"I don't care who looks like who!" I yelled, glaring at her. "I want to know why do we look the same!"
"Clara," Elijah sighed, standing from his seat. "Please, calm down."
"Calm down?" I laughed. "You want me to calm down after I've found drawings of women who look just like me since before I was even born? How can I, Elijah? This... This is absolutely insane!"
"Wouldn't it be grand for you to tell her why you really sought her out, Elijah?" Klaus was sitting back in his chair, his arms on the arm and smirking. "Tell her why you were really following her murders."
"Klaus," Elijah warned, glancing at him.
"Go ahead, brother," Klaus continued to smirk. With his two fingers, that were at the corner of his lips, he pointed at me. "Tell her everything. She's bound to figure it out sometime."
"Klaus!" Elijah warned even louder.
"Elijah, please," I frowned, grabbing his arm. "I deserve to know why these women and I look so alike." I made him turn and look at me. "Please, I deserve to know. Elijah, please!"
"Clara..." he frowned. He grabbed my face between his hands and made me stare into his eyes.
"No, no!" I pleaded, shaking my head and trying to pull away. "Elijah, no! Don't make me forget this, please! I need to know!"
"You will forget about the drawings," he compelled me. "You will forget all about them. What you found in that book were drawings of landscapes, nothing more."
"I will forget about the cities," I repeated, monotone. "They were drawings of landscapes." When he let go of my face, I blinked several times, confused as of why was I crying. I wiped away the tears and smiled. "I'm terribly sorry for barging in... I was just wondering who drew those wonderful drawings. They look so lifelike!"
"I did," Elijah said, clearing his throat and grabbing the drawings from the table I had laid them on. He looked down at them, a frown on his face. "It was such a long time ago that I can't remember when."
"You seem to come from a family full of artists," I smiled, glancing at Klaus. "You draw as well, don't you?"
"Yes," he smiled, nodding. "I'm quite the artist. To be fair, my drawings are life-like and filled with details."
"And you Rebekah?" I asked. "Do you draw as well?"
"My sister prefers poetry," Klaus answered for her, the smile forming to a smirk. "Romance. Tragedy."
Aigio, Greece
1995
With every step the sand shifted. With every motion forward there was some backward and down, just like walking in fresh snow. Yet, unlike the crystalline blanket of white brought by the winter time, the fine grains under foot gave me warmth from the sun rays. Like their sky-bound benefactor they are yellow, s if the sunshine itself were trapped inside these unmelting crystals of oxygen and deep sea rocks.
"Why does it feel warmer today than it did before?" I asked Elijah as I had my hand covering the sun from my eyes. "Or is it because we're vampires that we feel the heat more than the humans?"
He chuckled. "I've always wondered that myself," he hummed, pushing his hands behind him. "It must be that we were made to pry the night, not enjoy warm summer days on a beach in Greece."
"We're on vacation," I laughed, rolling my eyes. "It feels good to be away from home for a few months. And, Adam has been teaching me Greek. A few more lessons and I'll be fluent in yet another language." I smiled up at him, uncovering my eyes.
"Very well," he nodded, still smiling. His eyes left mine and he looked back at the seat. I followed his gaze.
The waves rolled in white tipped, spreading themselves like fine lace over the beach after they crashed in their soft way. There was nothing noisy about them, yet they had sound. I closed my eyes and inhaled the salty air, digging my toes on the warm sun. Each day that we spent by the beach was different, each day with a different sky and a different set of small adventures through the town. One day we would go to the beach and just walk around, and sometimes I'd have to pull Elijah in because he was too formal to walk in. There were days where we would walk around the town and explore the landmarks and sights.
One of the most notable sights was the church of Panagia Triptiti, a national sacred shrine dedicated to the Mother of God the Life Giving Spring. It was built on a steep cliff almost thirty meters high, near the sea, in a beautiful landscape filled with cypresses and pine trees. Then there was the church of Panagia Faneromeni, the cathedral of Aigio and its work by the architect Ernst Ziller. The interior was decorated with beautiful paintings by Constantine Fanelis. Everything in the town was beautiful. Its rich history made me want be a live a lot longer than I naturally was just so I could have experienced it. When I told Elijah that, he gave me a small smile and nodded, calling me a dreamer.
The afternoon came by fast. Elijah stayed in the small house we had rented while I was out through the town. I decided to make something for dinner, something I was taught by one of the locals that was nice enough to teach me Greek cuisine.
As I walked, the ground began to shake. I stopped moving and looked around, seeing people do the same. The shaking began to get harder, causing me to fall on my knees and stare as the ground began to grumble. Buildings began to shake and lose part of their hold, large pieces of debris falling. The roads began to break, splitting into two and swallowing a few people. I watched in horror, holding on to nothing.
"Clara!" I heard a distinct voice yell my name. I turned my head to see who called, but the smoke of the fallen debris didn't allow me to see who it was. There were people running around, screaming names as the ground continued to shake. "Clara!"
"Elijah!" I yelled in return, walking away from where I stood. Pieces of shattered glass, smoke, small fires from burst gas pipes, water from the pipelines, debris scattered all around, a hand under a pile of it with blood decorating it. I stared in horror and continued to look around, watching the scene unfold like a horror film. "Elijah!" I yelled again.
A hand on my shoulder spun me around. I stared at the owner in surprise, my mouth opening and closing. "Klaus?" I questioned, blinking several times. "What the hell are you doing here, Klaus? I thought you were back in New Orleans."
"Elijah invited me," he said, watching behind me. "He thought it would be nice to spend a little vacation together, as a family. I picked a great day to arrive." He grabbed my arm and began to pull me away, walking between debris, fallen bodies, and broken pipelines. I didn't mind because I was scared. It was such a sunny and wonderful day, and it ended in a catastrophe. "Such a great day to arrive," he grumbled under his breath.
"Have some respect!" I coughed as I followed. "There are dead around you."
"There have always been dead around me," he stated, rolling his eyes. "A little more death doesn't affect me."
"Okay, wow," I breathed, rolling my eyes and coughing at the sudden mistake. "Way to have a heart. Wait. You don't have one, I forgot."
"Save your humour for another time, love," he chortled, quickly glancing at me.
"We have to find Elijah!" I said, looking behind me to see more fallen debris. "Klaus, we need to find Elijah!"
"No!" he spat, turning to me. He stared in my eyes for a few seconds, and looked away. "We're not going to look for him."
"He's somewhere in that mess!" I cried. "He's your brother, Klaus. Your brother."
"I have two other brothers," he spat, glaring. "Clara, I have to other brothers daggered in a box. You remember sweet Rebekah? She's accompanying them as well." He took my cheeks between his fingers and made me look at him. "And I want to dagger Elijah as well for leaving me, but I couldn't, I can't. He was with you all along. Do you know that the only people I'm supposed to care about are my family? But, then you waltzed in with Elijah and I began to care. You spent years with me, telling me that I shouldn't blame myself for things that I indirectly caused. How can you make me care for someone other than my family again, Clara?"
"I-I..." I stammered, trying to push his hand away from my cheeks. He just tightened his grip, his fingers causing my lips to purse. "Klaus..."
"You're going to forget everything I just told you," he compelled, staring into my eyes. "You won't remember us, except for Elijah. He'll be the only memory, the only person, you'll remember for these past years. The rest of us will be nothing, we'll be black smudges in your memory when you try to think of the past. You won't remember me, Clara, and I'll do the same. I'll forget you and every nice word you ever said to me. From now on, you won't know who I am, who we were, and I'll start to hate you."