Tainted | Finn Mikaelson

Chapter 27

The lack of emotions was refreshing.

Katya stopped feeling afraid of Lucien. She stopped worrying about what the Mikaelsons thought about her. The sadness went away in seconds. All that mattered was what she wanted, aside from what he told her to do.

And she wanted to feed.

She'd made several pit stops on the way to the Compound. She didn't need to kill, but she chose to, and didn't mind leaving any bodies behind. She had gone to just about every alley in the French Quarter, feeding on a different person each time until they were dead. She didn't mind seeing the light leaving their eyes. She rather liked it.

"Being a vampire wasn't fun for me," Finn had told her in the past. "I didn't change much from how I was. Aside from the hunger and, according to my siblings, becoming more judgmental... I was still very much the same. Which I suppose I ought to be thankful for."

"Hmm," she said, licking the blood off her fingers as she looked down at the latest corpse. "This is fun. I'm hungry. And I need to eat. No shame in that. I'm thankful."

"It was difficult to gain control of the bloodlust. But... I seem to have had it better than my siblings did. They couldn't sate their hunger. They needed more each time. It took decades for them to learn to control it."

"Why control anything when you can be free and enjoy everything life has to offer?" mused Katya, eyes flickering down to her bloody hands, which were hardly visible in the night sky.

"Not being able to go into the sun at first, was horrendous. Once, I allowed myself to burn completely, wishing to end it. I did not die. My mother made us daylight rings, and I often toyed with it, daring myself to remove it again, give it another go."

She knew she couldn't delay much longer. If she took too long at the Compound, she wouldn't be able to return to Lucien (that is, if Klaus didn't manage to kill her, first).

"My emotions were everywhere, and I could not understand them. At the time, I had no one I could really talk to. My siblings would have understood, but soon enough, they stopped being able to relate to me."

The lack of emotions was a relief. It kept her from suffering, thinking about how different her life was going to be from now on. Had Lucien not compelled her to turn it off, she'd be a mess, trying to cope with powers she never asked for.

"The extra abilities— the strength, the speed, the stamina, the compulsion, the healing— it all felt odd to me when I first tried it. I didn't like it, it felt unnatural. But soon, I learned that there were advantages to it. Being able to build everything I could ever need with my own hands. Being able to rush to the aide of anyone who required it. I could remain long hours working on projects I set for myself without growing tired, without growing sore, without craving food. And when I got injured, I mended myself quickly."

"Your advice is lasting, beyond your death," she said, strolling toward her apartment. "Pity I can't mourn you anymore."

She didn't waste much time cleaning herself up. She did only what was needed before making her way to the Compound, where she found the Mikaelsons, Davina, and Cami gathered in the courtyard.

"Katya!" cried Hayley, rushing toward her. "Oh my god— what happened to you?" She turned back to Davina. "Call Marcel, tell him to gather his vampires and stop their search before they get killed."

"You'll act as though you still have your emotions while they're questioning you in th emain group," Lucien had said, after her humanity was turned off. "They won't know your switch has been flicked."