J U L I A N N A
I don't know what's wrong with me. One minute I'm deathlessly scared and the next I'm making out with Klaus as if we didn't just get chased by wolves.
We were still in the water, behind the crystal clear water falling over the rock. It was cold but our bodies were flush against each other.
As if the cold affected us anyways.
"Nik," I breathe as I pull away from his lips. "We need to get back to your siblings, they must be worried on why we're taking so long."
His lips lingered on my neck and he groaned in frustration.
"Unfortunately, love," Klaus sighed and leaned back. "You're right. We'll have to finish this later."
"Why am I even in this situation?" I ask more to myself. "We just outran an enraged pack of wolves and-"
I was cut off by Klaus' laughter.
"I always assumed it was my words that got you flustered," he smiled and pressed his warm lips to my forehead. That was true.
"Alright, we need to leave," I change the subject and duck down into the water. Klaus followed after me and we swam to the edge of the creek. Once I stepped out of the water, my clothes weighed on me and I sighed in annoyance.
"We have no clothes, no car, our phones don't work," I list off all my complaints and Klaus rolls his eyes.
"You seem to forget what we are capable of," Klaus points out. I wave my hand over the ground in attempt to do an easy spell but nothing happens.
"My magic is still disabled," I mumble. "Do you think it's gone forever?" I question in fear. I would be devastated.
"Not likely, my love," Klaus answers. His eyes flicker to me in reassurance, but all peace leaves his face when his eyes land on my arms. I curiously look down and a gasp leaves my mouth. Klaus speeds over to me and grips my arm, examining the dark veins protruding from underneath my paled and clammy skin.
"Nik," I whisper in fear. I suddenly feel all the warmth leave my face as black spots begin to block my vision. I don't even realize I'm falling until I see Klaus lurch towards me as everything around me blurs and all I'm able to see is Klaus' terrified eyes and swamp green trees. Then I see nothing.
..
The sound of birds chirping caused me to slightly squint open my eyes. The sun was beaming and everything around me was green.
I press my palms into the soft earthy soil beneath me and lift myself up to wander around. Somehow
I suddenly realize where I am - home.
This was a spot in the forest near my house that my family used to visit all the time. Countless memories filled my mind, good and bad. I always came here as an escape from when things got too difficult in my reality. The grayed rock decorated with moss still sat in the same place overlooking the cliff with the vast view of more green trees and a waterfall in the distance. Nothing has changed whatsoever, in the past seven hundred years since I've last been here. I have a feeling deep down, that something is not right.
But why am I here now?
My house should be north of where I'm standing. If I just run straight into the woods and past all the trees, I should land in my front yard. I try using my vampire speed to get there quicker, but it's not there. I break off into a run, using regular human speed. My heart rate accelerates each step I take and I don't know whether it's because I'm scared out of my mind or if it's because I'm running out of breath from running.
The green and brown of the trees and leaves blur past me as I'm sprinting as fast as I can to the cottage I used to call home. I finally see it in the distance and I use the rest of my strength to push myself and get there. The house is still it's usual faded brown, the windows were still a little scratched up and misted with the crisp morning fog. Everything is still the way it was seven hundred years ago.
I skip towards the front door and hesitantly place my hand on the freezing doorknob. Twisting it, I gently push open the door and walk into the empty house. As soon as my black heeled boots touch the wooden floor beneath me, the front door slams shut causing me to jump ten feet in the air.
"Hello?" I call out. "Is anyone home?" I wait for a response, but it never comes. I walk towards the chestnut dining table in the middle of the room and find a pencil drawn family portrait. I pulled out a chair and sat down in a huff. Alice drew this, I remember. She always had a talent for the arts and she simply insisted to draw us.
The thin piece of paper was tight in between my fingertips. We all look so happy. My mother sat on the moss covered rock while my father stood behind her, an arm draped over her shoulders. They both had bright smiles on their faces along with the rest of us. I sat on the ground, leaned up on my mother leg. Alice was beside me, her head on my shoulder, eyes closed and a gentle smile on her lips. Adrian was left of her, sitting with his elbows resting on his raised knees. That charming sideways smirk he always had, was on his face. We actually posed for this. We were placed exactly like this while Alice got an idea of how she was going to draw us. She managed to draw herself in, using her imagination even if she wasn't in the pose with us. A wave of nostalgia hit me, tears spring in my eyes but I refuse to let them fall. It was all so easy back then, so effortless. The only challenge I faced was if I picked enough berries, or if I finished dusting off the floor like my mother had asked me to. Now, it's all so hard. I can never get a break because my happiness gets ruined by someones hatred and rage.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" A voice suddenly asks and I jump up from my chair at an alarming speed. There stands Adrian with a serious but somewhat saddened expression.
"Alice had always had such a talent in the arts," I calmly respond. I wasn't intimidated by him, I should never be anyway. He's my brother, whether he likes it or not.
"Sit, please," he gestures towards my chair and I sit down without a question. He pulls out the chair in front of me and sits down. He exhales deeply and picks up the drawing. "If only we could go back."
"Well, if that wicked witch of the west hadn't come into the picture, we would have lived our life the way we should have."
"You have a point," he sighs. We sit in silence for a couple minutes while he was examining the drawing. I was watching him, observing him more so like. He was being odd, not threatening my life. He was just Adrian, my older protective brother.
"Why do you hate me?" I blurt out.
"I don't hate you," he softly chuckles. Okay, sociopath.
"Then why have you been trying to kill me," I whisper in sadness.
"Anna, don't you get it," he looks up at me. "It's all a show, I had the chance to kill you plenty of times, but I don't allow it. I know Alice visited you that night I 'kidnapped' you," he air quotes with his fingers. It doesn't make sense to me. What does he mean by he could have killed me?
"I told Alice to tell you those things so that it would give you the adrenaline to leave. I knew you were smart enough to get yourself out of there."
"What about Klaus?" I question in anger. "You scarred him for weeks."
"That wasn't me, I told her to leave him alone, to let him go but she wouldn't," he explains in an angry rush.
"She who?"
"Cora," he replies. "Who is also Esther." The whole world stops spinning and my heart beat is pounding against my chest. "She just won't leave," Adrian stands up and furiously runs his hand through his hair. "I did everything she asked me to! I put together my family, I spent an eternity looking for them and we all became one. I spent years alone, just so I could get back Alice," his voice cracked when he said her name, as if just hearing it, hurt him. He falls to the ground on his knees and I instantly run to his side. What if this is just a trick to kill me. I'm being a fool, but he's my brother and I can't help but feel sympathy.
"I never wanted to hurt you, Anna," his glassy eyes look up at me. "Everything was for show because she was always around, watching. I gave the werewolves you ran away from specific instructions, that's why you lived that day."
"Some instructions," I laughed incredulously. "One of them almost took my arm! How did you think I would survive that."
"You were with Klaus, I knew he wouldn't let you die."
"The bullet I was shot with! It disabled my magic," I say in anger.
"Those weren't my men! They were hers," his voice dripped with venom. This is all extremely weird. It's not making any sense to me. Suddenly, the question I was thinking about since I woke up came to mind.
"Why am I here?" I ask in a breath. He has to know. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be here. He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out. "Adrian, tell me," I demand.
"I'm sorry, my dear sister."
"Adrian, what did you do!" I push him away from me and stand up.
"It's not what I did!" He yells back, he stands up and faces me. "She caught me," he brokenly whispers. "The bullet, it's a special kind, it can get you anywhere and the bullet will begin traveling to the heart. Your body starts dying slowly, unimaginable pain will consume you. I was so devastated to know you got shot. She found out what I was doing, so she took me down too."
"Adrian," I shake my head, tears beginning to drip from my eyes.
"I know a witch who was able to give us this sort of fake reality," he explains. "Our bodies are back in the real world, desiccating slowly, withering in pain. Without the spell I had done on us, we would just be stuck in our heads. A vampire coma, you're aware of your surroundings and aware of the pain but you can't say anything."
My knees give out under me and I fall to the ground in defeat. It's over, I'm going to die. This is all too much for me. My brother was looking out for me this whole time.
"I hope you don't hate me, for what I put you through these past couple months. You must know what I had to do. When you care deeply for someone, you would do anything for them. I genuinely tried not to hurt you, Anna," Adrian sniffles and sits down beside me.
"You're an idiot," I sniffle and look up at him, his eyes suddenly even more sad, "but I love you, my dear, dear brother," I give him a soft teary smile and he returns the gesture.
"What a pleasant surprise." Adrian and I both shoot up from the ground and face the front door. There stood Cora, or Esther for this matter, staring at us in frustration. "I always knew you didn't have it in you to strike her down," she glared at Adrian.
"How did you find us?" Adrian pushes me behind him.
"I'm a witch, darling. A very powerful one," she smiles. "I feel like the lot of you deserve a more fitting setting." She raises her arms and chuckles darkly, "ut a re de somnium." The ground beneath us begins to violently shake. I hold onto Adrian's arm and close my eyes as I feel a thrashing breeze rip through the house. "If you don't want to suffer in silence in darkness, you can suffer in silence in your reality while you watch yourself die and there is nothing you can do about it," she seethes.
"Just leave us be, you got what you want," Adrian tries to reason but I can see it in Esther's face she wont have a change of heart.
"Shut it! I'm taking you to your doom as well, say goodbye to your sister you rotten boy," she fires back.
"Adrian!" I scream as Esther pulls him toward her, his arm ripped away from my grip. He gave me one last look, a caring, sympathetic look as they began to blur, and then they were gone. Just like that.
I hear soft sniffles and a quiet cry coming from behind me. Curiously, I turn around and my heart drops to my stomach. My desiccating body is lying on a nicely made bed in an unfamiliar hotel room. Klaus sat in a chair beside the bed, his hands wrapped tightly around my thighs with his head resting on them. He was sobbing, not caring if anyone heard him. I've never seen him like this, and it feels like a jab in the heart. I walk closely over to the bed and observe myself. My black jacket had been thrown on the floor, un-healing bite marks on my pale and clammy skin. I'm dying. Once the veins come up on my forehead, I know I'll be gone. But they look like the haven't gone past my hips.
"My love, I'm sorry I let you get hurt," he whispers. "I promised you I would always protect you, and I failed in doing so. I'm sorry you had to live the life you did, and I'm sorry I couldn't give you all the happiness in the world like I intended to do. You are my life, Julianna, and I have never loved anyone as much as I love you, so please, I beg you, don't leave me."
"I'm right here, Nik," I whisper and bend down beside him. I rest my head on the side of his leg and deeply sigh. There is nothing I can do except wait around, in mental and emotional pain, for my death. The room is silent, Klaus' sniffles had died down so suddenly. I look up at Klaus and a dumb struck look is on his face. He had stiffened below me and I get up in a rush. Did he know I was here?
"Nik? Can you hear me?" I question to test if I'm right, but I get no reaction out of him.
"Elijah!" Klaus abruptly yells and stands up from the chair. Elijah speeds in, Rebekah and Kol soon after. All of there eyes were rimmed in red from crying. It's comforting in a way to know how much I mean to them.
"What is it, Niklaus?" Elijah asks as proper as ever.
"I don't know how this could be possible, but listen," Klaus' voice trembles. Elijah gives him a questioning look.
"What am I supposed to hear?"
"A heartbeat," Klaus trails off.
"Nik, Julianna always has had a heartbeat," Rebekah sighs.
"She's a witch too, you know. Half human," Kol raises his eyebrow.
"That's the thing," he replies. "There's two heartbeats."
My world stops for the second time today. Everyone in the room had stiffened, and it was dead silent. All their eyes were focused on me, and I did the same. I trailed closer to my body and drowned everything out. Sure enough, I heard the soft flutter of a heartbeat, but it wasn't mine.
"Oh my god," Rebekah gasps. "Nik, she's pregnant."
AUTHORS NOTE
SORRY FOR ANY MISTAKES I DIDN'T PROOF READ.
ITS SUMMER! SCHOOL IS OVER, I AM FINALLY FREE!!! ITS TIME FOR SOME INTENSE ASS UPDATES.
THIS CHAPTER WAS SO MUCH, ALMOST TOO MUCH. BUT I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT AND VOTE AND COMMENT!!! AND I HOPE I CAN UPDATE SOON. MUCH LOVE TO ALL OF YOU <3333333333333333 x1000000000000
LETS SEE HOW THIS TURNS OUT. I'M ROOTING FOR JULIANNA, GIRL YOU GOT THIS.