fic: Memory (1/1)
Title: Memory
Canon: Vampire Diaries
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I in any way associated with, The Vampire Diaries.
Warnings: Spoilers for season 2. If you need to be warned about any of the actual content you're reading fanfiction about the wrong TV show.
Rating: T to be safe
Characters/Pairings: Klaus/Katherine, Elijah/Katherine
AN: This was inspired by one of the prompts over at softly_me 's current TVD ficathon but the prompt was actually for Klaus/Elena so it's not posted there.
Summary: After turning, Katerina remembers.
The moment she turns she runs. She doesn’t stop for days and so she doesn’t have much time to think on what’s happening to her. She hunts and feeds and kills, her only care that she not leave a trail for Klaus to follow. She gets used to sleeping when every mouse’s footfall is like thunder in her ears. She learns to blend in no matter the society. Compelling men comes as easily as charming them did.
Being a vampire is easy.
Or it was, until she began to slow down. When she crossed the border into Bulgaria she felt safe. This is the land that birthed her, the air that first filled her lungs. It is home and she cannot help the security that slows her frantic thoughts to runhideflee.
The memory hits her so hard she nearly falls off her horse.
She was unable to sleep. It was a problem she had often the year before when the child developed a habit of kicking in the small hours. Katherina had taken to walking. She never had a destination or a distance in mind, only the goal of tiring herself and the child within her to exhaustion.
The stone floors of the castle were colder against her bare feet than earth that had been sunsoaked all day long. The chill speeded her steps and she ran straight into a body when she rounded a corner.
Strong hands grasped her shoulders so tight she cried out in pain and a feral growl drowned it out. Fairy stories and tales of monsters in the woods flashed through her mind.
“Katerina.” It was a voice she did not know. The creature backed her up against a wall and the cold stone sapped away what little warmth was left in her. A shaft of moonlight fell across her captor and her cry of horror caught in her throat. This monstrosity was not Klaus. But at the same time it was.
His fingers twisted through her hair, caressed her cheek in an ugly bastardization of what had been loving only hours before. She felt the warm trickle of her own blood down her neck. He bent and lapped it up greedily. The feel of his tongue on her skin sent a jolt of warmth to her core. An instant later it turned to cold terror when his teeth, sharper than any man’s could ever be, pierced her flesh.
She had never been the sort of woman to swoon and hated that trait now. His throat rested against her chest and she felt every swallow he took of her blood. One of his hands trailed down over her stomach, his fingers tugging up her thin skirt. He began pushing her legs apart and she had the absurd thought that this night might end in another very obvious disgrace.
Suddenly Klaus was gone and she was a heap on the floor. There was yelling. She’d never heard Elijah raise his voice before and he sounded scarier than the monster-Klaus while he defended her. Though it wasn’t much of a defense, something about her not being useful if she were dead. The monster growled and slammed a door behind him.
Elijah appeared blurry in her vision. He lifted her easily into his arms and carried her back to her rooms. Thoughts swam in and out of her head, none keeping still long enough for her to speak them aloud.
He set her gently on her bed and lit a candle in the embers of the fire.
“You will be fine,” he said, pushing aside her hair to see her neck. His eyes darkened and his jaw tightened. It was very bad, she knew, and she disagreed with his assessment.
He laughed darkly. “I’m sorry but you will be.”
It was more frightening in the warm light of the candle and because she watched it come over him. She let out a strangled scream, scrambling away over the bed and reaching blindly back for the candlestick on the far side. He grabbed her arms, dragging her back to him and shushing her like a child.
“It’s all right. I’m not him. I won’t hurt you.”
She couldn’t believe that, not when he so readily dug his sharp fangs into his own wrist. He held it out to her.
“Drink.”
She shook her head desperately. He caught her gaze and his eyes seemed to swallow her.
“Drink,” he said again and she did. She didn’t want to but she couldn’t stop herself. He could make her do anything. It was a cold realization.
“There,” he said. He pulled his wrist from her mouth and ran his fingers lovingly over her cheek and down the column of her neck. There was no pain. His fingers did not catch on her ruined flesh. Her hand flew up and she felt the proof herself. She was healed.
He smiled like her awe was an unexpected gift.
“What--” she began.
Elijah shook his head once, silencing her. “I’m sorry, I truly am,” he said, cupping her cheek.
A painful debate raged in his eyes and then he kissed her. His lips were warm and almost shy. The chaste kiss from Elijah swept through her like a flame where Klaus’ more penetrating kisses had always left her tepid. She found her hands wrapping around his neck and pulling him atop her on the bed. One of his hands caught him, keeping his weight off her, while the other dug between her and the sheets, holding her to him.
He stopped suddenly and she wasn’t fast enough to hold back a gasp of disappointment. His face turned away from her and he closed his eyes in shame. When he looked back at her his eyes swallowed her again.
“Sleep and forget.”
The memory fades and Katerina's grip on the reigns tightens. It does not matter. She is less than a day from home, from warmth and happiness and peace. She rides on and puts the memory from her mind. If she finds herself remembering a chaste kiss in the centuries ahead, she does not dwell on it long.
Canon: Vampire Diaries
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I in any way associated with, The Vampire Diaries.
Warnings: Spoilers for season 2. If you need to be warned about any of the actual content you're reading fanfiction about the wrong TV show.
Rating: T to be safe
Characters/Pairings: Klaus/Katherine, Elijah/Katherine
AN: This was inspired by one of the prompts over at softly_me 's current TVD ficathon but the prompt was actually for Klaus/Elena so it's not posted there.
Summary: After turning, Katerina remembers.
The moment she turns she runs. She doesn’t stop for days and so she doesn’t have much time to think on what’s happening to her. She hunts and feeds and kills, her only care that she not leave a trail for Klaus to follow. She gets used to sleeping when every mouse’s footfall is like thunder in her ears. She learns to blend in no matter the society. Compelling men comes as easily as charming them did.
Being a vampire is easy.
Or it was, until she began to slow down. When she crossed the border into Bulgaria she felt safe. This is the land that birthed her, the air that first filled her lungs. It is home and she cannot help the security that slows her frantic thoughts to runhideflee.
The memory hits her so hard she nearly falls off her horse.
She was unable to sleep. It was a problem she had often the year before when the child developed a habit of kicking in the small hours. Katherina had taken to walking. She never had a destination or a distance in mind, only the goal of tiring herself and the child within her to exhaustion.
The stone floors of the castle were colder against her bare feet than earth that had been sunsoaked all day long. The chill speeded her steps and she ran straight into a body when she rounded a corner.
Strong hands grasped her shoulders so tight she cried out in pain and a feral growl drowned it out. Fairy stories and tales of monsters in the woods flashed through her mind.
“Katerina.” It was a voice she did not know. The creature backed her up against a wall and the cold stone sapped away what little warmth was left in her. A shaft of moonlight fell across her captor and her cry of horror caught in her throat. This monstrosity was not Klaus. But at the same time it was.
His fingers twisted through her hair, caressed her cheek in an ugly bastardization of what had been loving only hours before. She felt the warm trickle of her own blood down her neck. He bent and lapped it up greedily. The feel of his tongue on her skin sent a jolt of warmth to her core. An instant later it turned to cold terror when his teeth, sharper than any man’s could ever be, pierced her flesh.
She had never been the sort of woman to swoon and hated that trait now. His throat rested against her chest and she felt every swallow he took of her blood. One of his hands trailed down over her stomach, his fingers tugging up her thin skirt. He began pushing her legs apart and she had the absurd thought that this night might end in another very obvious disgrace.
Suddenly Klaus was gone and she was a heap on the floor. There was yelling. She’d never heard Elijah raise his voice before and he sounded scarier than the monster-Klaus while he defended her. Though it wasn’t much of a defense, something about her not being useful if she were dead. The monster growled and slammed a door behind him.
Elijah appeared blurry in her vision. He lifted her easily into his arms and carried her back to her rooms. Thoughts swam in and out of her head, none keeping still long enough for her to speak them aloud.
He set her gently on her bed and lit a candle in the embers of the fire.
“You will be fine,” he said, pushing aside her hair to see her neck. His eyes darkened and his jaw tightened. It was very bad, she knew, and she disagreed with his assessment.
He laughed darkly. “I’m sorry but you will be.”
It was more frightening in the warm light of the candle and because she watched it come over him. She let out a strangled scream, scrambling away over the bed and reaching blindly back for the candlestick on the far side. He grabbed her arms, dragging her back to him and shushing her like a child.
“It’s all right. I’m not him. I won’t hurt you.”
She couldn’t believe that, not when he so readily dug his sharp fangs into his own wrist. He held it out to her.
“Drink.”
She shook her head desperately. He caught her gaze and his eyes seemed to swallow her.
“Drink,” he said again and she did. She didn’t want to but she couldn’t stop herself. He could make her do anything. It was a cold realization.
“There,” he said. He pulled his wrist from her mouth and ran his fingers lovingly over her cheek and down the column of her neck. There was no pain. His fingers did not catch on her ruined flesh. Her hand flew up and she felt the proof herself. She was healed.
He smiled like her awe was an unexpected gift.
“What--” she began.
Elijah shook his head once, silencing her. “I’m sorry, I truly am,” he said, cupping her cheek.
A painful debate raged in his eyes and then he kissed her. His lips were warm and almost shy. The chaste kiss from Elijah swept through her like a flame where Klaus’ more penetrating kisses had always left her tepid. She found her hands wrapping around his neck and pulling him atop her on the bed. One of his hands caught him, keeping his weight off her, while the other dug between her and the sheets, holding her to him.
He stopped suddenly and she wasn’t fast enough to hold back a gasp of disappointment. His face turned away from her and he closed his eyes in shame. When he looked back at her his eyes swallowed her again.
“Sleep and forget.”
The memory fades and Katerina's grip on the reigns tightens. It does not matter. She is less than a day from home, from warmth and happiness and peace. She rides on and puts the memory from her mind. If she finds herself remembering a chaste kiss in the centuries ahead, she does not dwell on it long.