Imelda hoped she was dead.
The pounding in her head and the stiffness of her muscles said otherwise. A grunt left her lips, her eyes slowly peeled open and blinked back the harsh rays of sunlight that streamed down onto her.
"Well, look who decided to wake up." Klaus's lilting voice washed over her. He continued to flip through the magazine he was reading. "I was wondering if I had given you my blood to late."
"Isn't attacking you a death sentence?" Imelda groaned and sat up. She rolled her neck and popped her shoulders. She felt less stiff and the ache in her head subsided the longer she was awake. She found Klaus smirking at her, as if he was amused by her answer.
Klaus closed the magazine and tossed it onto the coffee table. "Most do but then I thought, now why would I rid this godforsaken planet of someone as ravishing and brave as you?"
Imelda snorted. "There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity." Her eyes roamed over the room she was in.
It was some fancy hotel room, the sounds of a city drifted through the open window. She jumped up, sprinting to the window and skidding to a stop on the balcony. She felt the wind brush past her and strong hands rest on her shoulders.
"I feel hurt, Imelda Fell." Klaus drawled, his grip tight to keep her in place but not tight to harm her. "I saved your life and now you want to leap from the balcony? A tad dramatic, don't you believe?"
"I'm not jumping from anything." Imelda shot the idea down. "Where are we?" She didn't see the Empire State building or anything that would tell her she was in New York. She twisted in his grip, her words catching him off guard and allowing her to peer up at him.
"Tell me we're not in New York."
Klaus searched her panicked expression. "Are you commanding me?" His voice was low as he dipped his head downward to see into her hazel eyes more clearly.
They weren't like any hazel eyes he had ever seen before. Flecks of green, blue, amber and even gray swarmed in her eyes, making them appear clear, dark and vibrant; as odd as it sounded. Klaus felt something stir inside of his chest the longer he stared into her eyes. He backed up.
"We're in Chicago." Klaus offered a smile, playing it off, his smile morphed into a curious expression as her racing heart calmed at his words. "Care to inform me why New York is such a horrible place?"
Imelda cleared her throat. "Seeing as you had a hand in my sister's death, not really." She looked away from him, moving from the balcony and entering the hotel room once more.
"Come now, Love." Klaus rolled his eyes. "I told you the truth and despite you attacking me, saved your life. You owe me."
"Of course I owe you." Imelda grumbled, not realizing he had heard her and smirked as she moved around the room. "Where's Stefan? He's the one who threw me off of you, isn't he?" She rubbed her hands together and pursed her lips.
Klaus stood in the center of the room, hands tucked into his jean pockets. "He was. At the moment he's the only comrade I have left."
Imelda rolled her eyes. "Careful, he'll kill your sibling and send you their heart." She missed the dark look that filled his blue-green eyes. Her stomach twisted and she shook her head.
"That is cruel." Klaus spoke softly, watching the young woman who seemed to struggle and fight back tears.
Imelda rubbed her nose, her eyes landing on the mini fridge. She crossed the room in quick strides, jerking the door open Klaus watched her pull out a bottle of beer, use the nearby counter to open it and downed half all within a moment.
"So what are you?" Imelda was sure she had given up. She slumped onto the sofa she had woken up on, watching Klaus resume sitting across from her. She sipped her beer scowling at the taste.
Truthfully, Imelda hated drinking but the idea of being numb to everything in regards to Klaus and Stefan was more alluring than being sober and facing them. Klaus watched her for a moment, pulling his leg up and resting it on the other. He got comfortable so she did the same.
"I am, currently, the first of my kind." Klaus wouldn't tell her the entire story, he didn't feel like it and she didn't seem the type to enjoy long, drawn out stories. "A Hybrid."
Imelda nodded her head. "I've read about them. Part vampire, part werewolf, full ass." It slipped from her tongue. It was clear she was a lightweight but that might be due to her never drinking until then.
Klaus smirked but made no move to keep her from drinking. "Tell me, Imelda Fell, what do you wish to do with Stefan?" Humans had a habit of being honest when intoxicated.
"Shoot him." Imelda nodded absently.
"With a gun." She clarified, her eyes blurred as she downed the rest of her beer and dropped the bottle onto the ground. She stood and made her way back to the mini fridge. Rather than get one she grabbed them all and sat on the floor. She opened one and drank it.
"I also plan on drowning my sorrows. Damon was right. I'm an idiot. I should've been glad to just have her heart. But you know? I mean, she's my twin." Imelda babbled, losing herself as she drank and spoke with her hand.
"I-I didn't even tell anyone she was dead. I avoided our Aunt and our mom? Oh man, our mom she, she doesn't even know. No one knows but I do." Imelda finished the second bottle and opened the third.
"I thought Stefan was our friend. We, he was nice, you know? And he came over and helped paint the stupid walls with the stupid lilies." Imelda didn't realize Klaus had stood and was now crouched in front of her.
"I hate lilies now. I hate my house that I was born in. I hate Stefan. I hate Mystic Falls. Did I say I hate Stefan?" Imelda tried to drink the third bottle but her fingers clutched air.
"No. No I really hate, do you know what I really hate?"
Klaus peered at her. "What do you hate, Love?" He held the beer out of her grasp as her glossy eyes peered at him before they fluttered closed and her body slumped to the side.
"I hate being alone."
"From the womb to the tomb, sister your stuck with me." Imelda's fist banged on the closed bathroom door.
"So either open the door or I call Stefan and he breaks it down. Then you can explain to our dear, sweet, not-so-understanding mother who lives in Alaska why the door,-" Imelda's rant is cut off by the door being jerked open.
Iris fell sniffled, her mascara and eyeliner was smeared and made her look like a drowned raccoon. Her eyes were red and puffy. Snot dripped from her nose, it wasn't a pretty sight but Imelda brought her sister into her chest and hugged tightly.
"She's a bitch for not realizing how lucky she was." Imelda wasted no time in doing her sisterly duty of cheering her twin up.
Iris smiled through her tears. "You always say that." She pulled back and peered into her sister's hazel eyes. They shimmered with warmth and made her feel better.
"And I'm always right. Now, clean yourself up and join me downstairs for cookie dough ice cream, your choice of movies and a large cheese pizza."
Iris sniffled. "What would I do without my baby sister?"
Imelda rolled her eyes. "Crash and burn? And your older by ten minutes, now hurry up. I love you but you look like a drowned raccoon."
"I'm serious, Imelda. You joke about us being from the womb to the tomb but I want you to know I take that to heart." Iris caught her sister as she tried to walk away and hugged her, laughing as she groaned and tried to escape.
"And I do too." Imelda nodded. "Now let me go!"
When Imelda woke up again, she was hungover. It didn't last long because a glass of water was handed to her by some guy with brown hair and a pig looking face. Shoving the glass away she sat up blinking in frustration as the glass was shoved back into her face.
"Look, I'm not drinking whatever it is." Imelda figured she'd been stupid long enough. "Where is Klaus?" His name rolled off of her tongue far quicker and easier than she ever would have guessed.
"Mister Mikaelson has instructed me to look after you." The man spoke, handing the glass of water to Imelda once more. "There is a duffel bag of clothes for you to change into along with Advil." His brown gaze flickered to a black duffel bag that sat on a metal chair.
"Where am I?" Imelda took the glass of water and pretended to drink from it. She looked around, wherever she was it had an echo to it and was large and vast. It was some type of building with large crates lining the towering metal shelves.
"A warehouse owned by Mister Mikaelson." The man replied, turning his back to her. "Please get dressed. She will wake soon enough."
"She?" Imelda paled, shooting up from the twin seat she was laying on. Her eyes landed on a coffin not far from her.
The lid was pushed open and from where she stood she saw an empty coffin. Before Imelda could move she was flung into a crate, her head smacked against the wood and she groaned as her vision blurred. She heard the man speaking before silence fell.
"Why do I get tossed around like a damn rag doll?" Imelda cursed, grunting and pushing herself up.
"Perhaps it is because you are a pathetic little human." An accented woman's voice replied with a scoff.
Imelda peered into sparkling blue eyes. "Okay. You've got me on that one." She nodded, staying still. The blonde vampire had the same accent as Klaus did, and despite her having lighter blonde hair, Imelda could easily see the resemblance.
"You are to take me to Gloria's bar." The vampire announced. Imelda nodded, figuring she'd go along with whatever was happening so she wouldn't be killed.
"There are some clothes in a duffel bag." Imelda pointed to the bag she was supposed to go through. "You have blood on your dress and it's night so." She trailed off, shifting her weight as the blonde vampire continued to gaze at her.
"Help me dress, Servant." The woman commanded. Imelda bit the inside of her cheek and drew closer.
"Of course. Yeah." She nodded, doing as commanded and keeping her tongue to herself. After a rousing twenty minutes of dressing a grown woman, Imelda was ready to become an alcoholic or gauge her eyes out with the nearest object she could get her hands on.
"Gloria's bar." Imelda muttered, leading the vampire, Rebekah, down the street. She had taken the dead guy's phone and, in her own silent revenge was making the blonde walk. Using the internet, Imelda was able to figure out where they were going.
"Tell me, Servant." Rebekah sauntered in front of Imelda. "Did Nik put you on vervain so I wouldn't kill you? Are you his play thing or mine?"
Imelda felt her jaw clench but she kept her eyes trained on the street signs. "Yours. I'm a peace offering."
She lied through her teeth but it seemed to work. If she thought the Fell's had issues of staying together as a family, apparently Klaus's family had bigger ones. Ones Imelda was going to escape the second she got the chance.
"Well once the vervain is through your system I look forward to killing you." Rebekah flashed the shorter girl a brilliant smile. It faltered when Imelda smiled back.
"We're here." Imelda spouted off before Rebekah could snap her neck or throw her into oncoming traffic.
Letting the quick to piss off vampire go first, Imelda entered the strangely empty bar. The door swung shut behind her as she stuffed the phone into her jeans pocket.
In mild interest she watched Rebekah screech and stab Klaus in the chest with the same silver dagger she had picked up from her coffin.
"Imelda, Love." Klaus pulled the dagger from his chest. "Why are you still dressed in clothes from three days ago?" He wrinkled his nose at the sight of his sister wearing the clothes he specifically bought for the Fell girl.
Imelda sniffed her shirt and wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. Tell that to her." She pointed to Rebekah who was pouting.
"She is your peace offering? She's on vervain, Nik. I had to drink from a horrible smelling man." Rebekah sounded like a spoiled child.
"He looked like a pig." Imelda tacked on, heading to the bar and climbing over it and landing on the other side. She felt eyes piercing her back but she ignored it as she fixed a huge glass of some dark looking alcohol.
"She is not my peace offering." Klaus set his attention to his sister. With his hand he gestured toward the back office. "He is."
Imelda's grip tightened on her glass as she watched Stefan Salvatore saunter out of the office, not sparing a look as he joined Klaus. All Imelda saw was her sister laughing and smiling. She saw her sister's heart in a shoe box, now stuffed in a cooler in Virginia.
"Easy, Love." Klaus's lips brushed against her ear as he took her drink from her and took a sip of it. He winced at how strong it was. "Let's not do anything rash, we're all friends here."
"Kill me." Imelda spat. "Because that son of a bitch kills his friends." She spoke to loudly, she gained Rebekah and Stefan's attention. Stefan took a step forward but stopped when Klaus shook his head.
"You will do no such thing." Rebekah snapped. "Nik, snap her neck for speaking to Stefan that way."
"Rebekah." Stefan looped his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. "That's Imelda Fell. I killed her twin a couple of months back."
"Last week you also sent me her heart." Imelda sneered. The emotions she shoved down fluttered and filled her chest. Her fingers tightened, her hands balling into fists.
"A sister actually angry over a siblings death?" Rebekah was surprised by such an action, though she grew jealous.
"Twins are like that." Stefan shrugged, spinning Rebekah and causing the blonde to squeal in delight. "But let's not talk about them. Klaus, care if we catch up?" He glanced to Klaus who waved them off.
"One night of fun won't hurt, I suppose." Klaus took a sip of Imelda's drink. His arm looped around her waist and kept her back against his chest. Rebekah and Stefan left the bar, Imelda slammed her fists onto the bar.
"Let go of me." Imelda's voice was laced with grief. "I'm not letting him get away from me. He doesn't get to just go on with his stupid life!" Her voice wavered and rose in tone. She tried to get away but Klaus's grip was ironclad.
"I must say, Love. I doubt Iris would want you to die." Klaus set the drink onto the bar and spun her around and gripped her shoulders. "Now listen, I can't compel you and you seem smart enough to survive my lunatic of a sister so listen to me."
Imelda gripped his wrists and shoved upward, they didn't budge. "I want her back, Klaus!" Imelda snapped.
"I don't care if I die or if he kills me! Okay? I just want my sister back!" Tears welled in her eyes and Klaus sighed heavily. Imelda clung to his wrists. "I just want to lay her to rest." She whispered.
Klaus peered down at Imelda. "Alright." He stepped back, giving her space and picking up the drink she fixed. He held it in between them as she brushed away what few tears managed to escape.
"I will make Stefan give you back your sister's body and even pay for the funeral." Klaus watched her eyes brighten and he wondered why he felt joy.
"In exchange for?" Imelda glanced to the glass and then back to him.
Klaus smirked and ignored the odd sensation. "In exchange for you becoming a vampire, here and now."