Fic: Ghost of the Past, by Novellect, Chapter 2 [Rating R]

[novellect]

The farther into the mansion they went, the more impressed Dany was. The entire building was truly a piece of art. It almost seemed more like a museum than a home and that made Dany feel a bit sad.

“This place is beautiful,” she said offhandedly.

“Thank you,” replied Rebekah. “My brother spent a lot of time rebuilding our home so we could all be together. He put a lot of work into it and yet sometimes I feel as if he’s barely here at all.”

“Why is that? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Klaus is… complicated.” Rebekah replied while effectively dropping the subject at the same time. Dany could take the hint and decided to follow her lead. Instead her eyes roamed the surroundings. Marble flooring, pristine white walls, it was all very ostentatious and Dany wondered how long it would take a person to discover every nook and cranny of this place.

Rebekah’s room looked exactly like Dany pictured it would. Spacious, extravagant, with a walk in closet which was most likely about the same size, if not bigger, than the bedroom and the ornate vanity that was place in the corner next to a cream and gold embroidered couch. There was a lot of gold accenting different objects throughout the room, which included the gold-threaded bedspread, and shimmering gems could be spotted in random places. The two women chatted aimlessly as Rebekah tried on different combinations of outfits, Dany giving her honest opinion about each piece her friend brought out. It was a fun and easy going time and Dany was so happy she had the chance to experience it. Viserys made being happy with one’s life a bit difficult. Daenerys banished that horrible thought and felt shame course through her veins. Her brother was cruel and unfeeling at times, but he spent half of his life keeping the both of them safe; he could’ve gotten rid of Dany early on and worried about only keeping himself safe instead of raising her all on his own.

“So have you found any guys that tickle your fancy yet?” Rebekah asked, pulling Dany away from her depressing reverie.

“Not really, no,” she admitted. “There are plenty of cute guys to choose from, obviously, but I just can’t see myself with any of them.” The younger female didn’t feel the need to divulge the fact that her heart was eternally held hostage by her dream lover.

Daenerys paused for a second.

There it was again.

Every so often Dany would feel some kind of tug on her heart, as if something were trying to gain her attention. Sometimes her eyes would scan the room, even though she knew whatever it was, was much farther away. But the need to get up and search became all the harder to ignore. She itched to go and find what wanted her so badly. A yearning need that would never be sated until the distance between them was erased.

Fingers snapped in front of her face.

“Dany, hello? Can you hear me?” Rebekah was trying to get her attention.

She blinked back to reality and nodded once quickly. “Yeah sorry. I guess I zoned out for a moment there.”

“I’ll say,” the blonde said strangely. Then she blinked and took a step back, holding up a pleated blue dress with a thin brown belt. The outfit was simple yet would accentuate the blonde’s curves beautifully and Dany felt her lips pulling up into a smile.

“I think that’s perfect.”

“Really?” She held it up to her frame in front of the mirror and then tilted her head to the side. “Maybe… I’ve never worn it before; I’m just not sure if it’s my style.”

This statement made Dany chuckle. “Then why would you by it in the first place?”

“I thought I’d eventually wear it, but every time I consider doing just that, I decide something else is better.” Rebekah placed this dress down on the couch beside Daenerys, separate from all the other options, and went back into the closet.

The tug pulled on her again and Dany’s mind wondered. She felt like she could hear the flapping of multiple pairs of wings, far off screeching and rumbling purrs. The silver-haired female felt a protectiveness burning from somewhere within her heart. But a protectiveness of what, exactly?

Another tug.

Footsteps echoing down the hall.

“Alright Rebekah, I’m here. Rushed away from very important matters to get here,” called out a distant voice. The deep toned accent could only mean it was one of Rebekah’s brothers, although which one she couldn’t deduce.

“Oh, good you came back!” The blonde smiled as she ran out of the closet.

“Mm, what is that mouth-watering smell?” Replied the voice again. “Did you bring something for me to e-,” his voice cut off once Rebekah allowed him into her room. Since the couch faced away from the door Danny didn’t look over at first, instead she kept her focus on her unusual thoughts, mentally searching for the source of her need. Suddenly she heard a throat clear.

“Dany, I’d like you to meet one of my brother’s… This is Klaus.”

Hearing her name caught Daenerys’ attention but seeing a pair of shocked blue-grey eyes had her pause. Slowly, her eyes took in the rest, and her subconscious felt like it was clawing at her, begging her to make the connection.

Just like Rebekah, her brother had blonde hair, though his was darker than hers, and deep set blue eyes. Dany couldn’t understand why her mind was at war with itself. Two images were colliding together making what Dany saw hard to decipher. She had to blink, one time, then again, and then she gulped but still no words came from her mouth. Her eyebrows came together in confusion. Klaus hadn’t said anything either and he appeared to be having an internal battle of his own.

“It’s… nice to meet you,” she ultimately got out.

“Same to you,” he replied. His voice was velvety rough, as if he was struggling against some unnamed emotion, and his eyes… The way he stared at her ignited every nerve on her body. She couldn’t move under his gaze, didn’t want to move for that matter. By only one look Daenerys thought could see so many of his secrets. Secrets kept hidden from the world, and yet it was like Dany had no problem in picking them out.

The air in the room electrified and Dany could feel the flush upon her cheeks grow. A man had never made her blush with simply a look before. A shiver rolled down her spine; her tongue darted out to lick her lips, and then her teeth bit down on the bottom flesh as her head tilted fractionally to the side. This action must have struck something in Klaus, because his eyes alighted and he made a quick move to approach her, but just as quick, Rebekah stepped in front of him and continued the conversation as if there wasn’t a massive amount of emotions flooding within the atmosphere.

“Dany and her brother Viserys just moved to town a week ago. I’ve been keeping her company during school and at the Grill for breakfast when I can.”

Eventually snapping out of her trance Dany replied, “Yes. Rebekah’s been very kind. She even saved me from a day of total boredom by inviting me here.”

“Well, that was thoughtful of you, sister.” Klaus finally pulled his eyes away from Dany for the first time since he walked into the room to look over at his sibling. “If you don’t mind, love,” blue-grey eyes locked on to purple ones when he said the last word. “I need to borrow Rebekah here for a moment. A few family matters we have to discuss.”

“Of course, take your time,” she replied breathily. The way he called her ‘love’ made her heart sputter and her mind started pulling out old dreams, or memories, of being called that name many times in different ways. Quite, intimate moments, joyous laughter, kind-hearted reprimands, more images than she could possibly make sense of. Before leaving, he paused once again, taking one more look as if this was all some big joke and Dany would be gone by the time he comes back.

There was so much feeling in that one look.

Unspoken words left hanging in the silence.

Her heart felt so strange.

Butterflies fluttered violently within her stomach.

Then they were gone and Dany was left by herself, left to surrender to the dreams and insatiable tugging sensation. She could feel her breathing and her heartbeat slow as her ears opened up to the sounds around her. She could only hear faint whispers of the siblings, other than that the house was fairly silent, and then there was the fluttering.

When she opened her eyes, Dany realized she was no longer in Rebekah’s room. In fact, she didn’t know where she was, exactly. Still in the Mikaelson mansion for sure. The roman detailing and marble flooring tipped her off to that, but she was in a completely different section. Even more strange is that she appeared to have wondered deeper down into the heart of the building. One question kept running through her mind: How did I get here?

Why?

And then she felt it again.

Her head whipped in the direction of the pulse. Over and over again the word ‘mine’ kept repeating throughout her thoughts. Whatever was tugging at her belong to her, she had no doubt in her mind about that anymore, but she still didn’t know what it was. She felt her feet start moving again, guiding her towards the unknown. A door of grandiose proportions is where she was lead and she carefully examined each detail. The ‘M’ of Mikaelson being the most prominent design of the entire piece. Dany lifted her hand and lightly ran her fingers along one of the curves.

“What are you doing down here?” Called a sharp voice.

Dany jumped and spun around quickly, an apology already on her lips, but she was pinned to the door before she could even utter a word. One hand was holding both of her smaller hands above her head and another hand gripped her chin tightly. Dany protested but the arms that held her were like stone. She couldn’t move and her heart was pounding erratically. Even though her mind knew it couldn’t be true, she knew what she had seen. Her attacker had been all the way down the hall and somehow ended up surrounding her in a matter of seconds.

Such impossible speed and strength.

She had noticed Rebekah was oddly strong as well.

It wasn’t natural.

Fear coursed through her blood but a mask of cool indifference stayed on her features. At first the stranger had just stared at her with cold, dark eyes as his thin lips curved up into a wicked smirk. His finger ran down the side of her throat and he brought his face closer to hers, sniffing the air as he did.

“You smell… delicious,” and then as his eyes turned red, dark veins shifted underneath his skin, and his canines sharpened into deadly fangs.

This time Dany moved, trying, and failing, to get out from his unwavering grip. His hand latched onto her chin once more and he stared her directly in the eye. It felt disturbingly like that morning with Viserys. Then she noticed his pupils dilating and his voice took on a more lulling tone.

“Stop struggling,” he ordered smoothly.

At that very moment, Dany’s attacker was ripped away from her and slammed into the opposite wall, locked there by Klaus’ shaking form. Then Dany noticed that he was growling menacingly and she slowly slid down the door to sit on the floor. She watched the scene before her without uttering a noise.

“You do not touch her!” Klaus growled and then slammed the brown haired stranger into the wall once again. “How dare you. I should kill you. I could kill you. It would be so easy.” Each word was dripped with malice and Daenerys wouldn’t be surprised if he did exactly as he threatened to do. It was an odd feeling in her gut. She could tell that the man defending her was capable of inflicting some of the most dangerous of all evils, probably has on more than one occasion for all she knew, but she was also certain he would never aim such darkness towards her. It was a strange revelation and Dany didn’t know what to do with this new found information.

“Now, now brother,” her attacker spoke around Klaus’ grasp around his windpipe. “Let’s not get to hasty. I didn’t know who she was.

Besides… only family should be down here.”

“I heard you compelling her, Kol. What were you planning to do huh?”

“I think it’s fairly obvious what I was going to do,” the stranger named Kol said viciously. “I was going to have some fun with her, and then when her usefulness was all used up, and I had my fill of her, I was going to drink her dry.”

Klaus didn’t like the answer he received. Dany heard a murderous growl and then a loud snap. After that Kol’s body dropped lifelessly to the floor. Shock was what Dany was feeling. She couldn’t believe he had just killed his own brother right in front of her. Her eye’s looked upon the trembling form of her savior. His velvety voice spoke up softly, “Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

Sad blue-grey eyes looked over at her. Body still trembling, he took a step towards her and she instinctively moved away, regretting the action as soon as she did it. He looked like she had just slapped him.

“I heard him compel you… Yet… You’re not…” he said astounded, unable to get out his complete thought.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“We can make people do what we want. It’s called compelling. I heard him use it on you, telling you to stop struggling. I’m just… surprised to see it didn’t work.”

“To me it sounds like that’s a good thing.”

Klaus nodded. “You’ll never have to worry of being forced to do something against your will. I’m just curious of how. Do you drink vervain?”

“I’m not sure what that is…”

He blinked and then started pacing back and forth as he thought.

“You’re not human,” she said after a minute. “None of you… are human.”

He stopped in his tracks. “No, we’re not,” then he waited for a moment and then tilted his head. “Does this knowledge bother you?”
She looked up into his blue-grey eyes. Again she could see that unknown emotion floating within his gaze. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

This answer seemed to ease his worry because a brilliant smile appeared upon his full lips, flashing perfect, human teeth and the sight was breath taking. “Well then there may just be some hope for you yet, love. But tell me, what were you doing down here?”

“Honestly?”

He nodded.

“I don’t know.”

His brow furrowed in confusion.

“I’m not even sure when I left Rebekah’s room,” she admitted. “But there was something…” her voice trailed off as her purple eyes wondered back towards the large door she was leaning against. The tug she felt still present, although much calmer, as if whatever it was knew she was nearby.

Klaus’ eyes followed Dany’s gaze to the door and then he walked over to kneel in front of her. “That’s the room to my family’s vault. All the interesting items and whatnot that we’ve collected over the years and deem valuable are stored in that room. A modern day treasure trove, if you would.”

His blue eyes bore into hers.

Then she remembered the body.

“You… killed your brother.”

He looked back at Kol’s lifeless form. “Yes well… he’ll be fine eventually.”

“Fine… eventually?”

Klaus smiled back at Dany. “Of course love. He’s not permanently dead.”

“How?”

“Because…,” he thought for a moment, looking deep into her eyes. “Because we’re vampires. The Original vampires to be exact.”

“Original… vampires? So, you and your family were the first ones?”

He smiled brightly obviously impressed with her conclusion. “Precisely.”

Daenerys swallowed and took a breath to settle her nerves. Her eyes travelled from Kol’s body, to the door behind her, then back up to Klaus.

“Am I human?” she asked.

All emotion wiped away from his features immediately. “Why do you ask that?”

For a few minutes she said nothing, debating how she would phrase the next thing she needed to say. An explanation that wouldn’t make her sound insane. She could only hope he wouldn’t instantly judge her considering he wasn’t normal himself. There weren’t many options to choose from, so she went with the simplest route she could come up with. “Can you hear the beating wings?”
Confusion made him ask, “Wings?” She nodded. “I hear Rebekah upstairs, my brother Elijah in his room, random creatures outside, your heartbeat and even breathing, but no wings. Not unless you mean the birds and I’m quite certain that’s out of your hearing range.”

Dany shook her head. “Heavier than a bird’s wings and coming from behind this door.” She motioned by nodding her head into the door behind her.

Klaus didn’t look at the door, nor did he say anything at first, but Dany could see the muscles in his neck tighten and then he swallowed. The two of them sat in that silent position for a long time. Neither saying anything. Although he never gave her an answer, she could tell he knew something about what she was referring to, and she knew he’d never tell her unless she let him do it on his own. Unwilling to break the hold she had on him and jeopardize the information she could gleam, Dany kept still and quiet, just studying his face as his inner battle raged on.

Then there was a loud gasp.

Two pairs of eyes looked over to see Kol getting up and rolling his neck around.

Klaus stood up in front of Daenerys.

Kol looked over at them. “Well that was unpleasant.”

“Touch her again and I’ll be sure to have a dagger nearby,” Klaus said darkly.

“Forgive me,” Kol replied scathingly. “I didn’t realize she was so important to you.”

A low growl echoed through the hall. “I suggest you get out of my sight.”

Kol’s dark eyes looked down towards Dany, but Klaus adjusted his stance so that she couldn’t be seen. The action brought the dark eyes back up to the harsh blue-grey ones and they glared each other down until Kol finally backed off and vanished. As soon as his brother was gone Klaus turned to Daenerys and held his hand out to her.

“Come on, love. We really shouldn’t stay down here,” he said softly. All anger and frustration left his features entirely. “Wouldn’t want someone else to catch us.” Dany’s eyes looked from the vault door to his offered hand, hesitation keeping her from making another move. His lips pulled up at the corners, “We can talk about that later. For now, I think it’s best if we get you back to Rebekah.” This made Dany nod and take his hand so he could help her stand. They started walking, but she couldn’t help looking back at the large door once again, the tugging gradually became as insatiable as before. She also knew however, that Klaus didn’t have to ask her politely to get her to drop the subject and walk away, but he did, which made her feel a small bond of trust forming between the two of them. Daenerys decided she would wait for her answers for now, though she didn’t want to have to wait too long. Whatever was in that room wanted her just as much as she wanted it and Dany was determined to claim it. Her eyes looked over at Klaus and saw that he was looking right back at her. A silent understanding passed between them and he nodded, tugging on her hand to get her to keep following him as he lead the way back to Rebekah’s room. It had been in that movement that Dany realized their hands were still intertwined together. The feeling made her finger tips tingle and her skin warmed under his touch. Her mind kept wondering why it felt so damn familiar.