The Last Petrova

You Alone Can Shine

As the dining room door opens, I turn around to act as if I haven't been eavesdropping in on the conversation between Klaus and his mother.

Finn soon leaves the house with Esther, and Kol, obviously not wanting to be stuck in the house with Klaus, suggests to Rebekah that they leave as well. What with Elijah already having left in the morning to do god knows what, it's only Klaus and me left in the large mansion now.

"Well, as I don't have even the slightest doubt that you were listening in on our conversation earlier, why don't I just ask it?" Klaus says. 

I look at him, trying to appear as confused as possible. 

Klaus smiles, and I decide to drop the act.

"Be my date to the ball," Klaus says, running his hand through my long hair. My first thought is to say, 'Sure, but only if you steal Rebekah's dress for me, the one she had in the 1800s' in a joking manner. 

But then I remember the predicament I'm placed in. Literally anything could tip Elijah over the edge right now, and now that Kol has been freed, it wouldn't take much from Elijah or Rebekah to easily turn Kol against me.

"No," I say. 

Klaus frowns. "What?" he says, apparently not understanding what 'no' means. 

"Listen, Klaus," I say, pulling away from him, "Your family is in town. Your homicidal, unpredictable, uncontrollable family. Do you really think it'd be the best idea to let them know about... Us?" I say, still unsure as to what our relationship exactly is. 

But when you're a 400 year old vampire who's constantly dealing with death threats all day long, you really don't stop to consider the boundaries and official titles of your love life. 

"What do you mean?" Klaus asks. 

I hesitate- or pretend to hesitate, anyway. Obviously, I have to make it look convincing. I have to make it look as if I'm unsure of what I'm going to say next.

"Look, I'm just- I'm not comfortable with letting any member of your family, especially Elijah, know about us just yet. So can we just keep the news of our relationship to ourselves?" I ask with the slightest pleading tone in my voice. 

I think I've executed my speech pretty well, though the real judgement can only be passed once I hear Klaus's answer.

"Fine," he says with an immensely annoyed sigh. "Though I don't understand what me keeping quiet will do, every other supernatural in Mystic Falls knows about us anyway," he says sharply. 

"Don't be mad," I say with a slight edge to my voice. 

"I'm not," Klaus says, stomping over to the front door of the house and kicking it open. 

"Where are you going?" I sigh. 

"To find myself a date to the ball, of course. You don't really expect me to go alone, now do you?" he says spitefully. 

I watch as he slams the door shut on his way out. I stare at him out through the window, and memories of the first ball I ever attended slowly begin to float back into my mind...

*****

1603, France

"Helena, darling, you look lovely," my mother said to me as she smoothed down the gold speckled dress that I was wearing. 

I shifted nervously in front of the mirror, glancing up at the sapphire jewels that adorned my hair.

"Hurry now, the Duke has planned such a marvelous ball for your tenth birthday, and you know it is not polite to be late," my mother said.