Tortured Past (Hope Mikaelson x OC)

Chapter Zerø - Down

1473
Pliska, Bulgaria

It was night in the village of Pliska, as a man stood looking out the window of his manor.  He heard his parents yelling at his poor sister, Katerina in the hall downstairs.  He could hear her cries as she ran up the great stairs and then up to his room, upon which she knocked on the door.

"You May come in." He told her as she opened the door and walked to him before clutching his arm.

"They are going to exile me after the birth of the child.  They wish to send me to England, that way I will never be seen again."

"Oh Katerina... I wish I could do something to help you, dear sister."

"You can! You can convince them to not have me go! You can tell them not to exile me... they'll listen to you, they always have loved you more than me."  Her words, in her eyes, were correct.  Their mother loved her son more than anything in the world, including Katerina.  But their father, how he hated him. 

The hatred for him began the day he was born.  He was but a child, but the man hated him.  He was estatic when his wife, Alana had told him he was to have an heir.  That all changed, when just days before his birth, he learned the truth.  The child was not his.  His wife had an affair with a man from England, Roark Sterling. 

The man had come to Bulgaria on business and informed him of his wife's unfaithfulness.  It pissed him off.  It took all of his restraint to not kill his whore of a wife and the bastard child.  But he kept his mouth shut and he raised him.  Then, three years later, he made sure he would have an heir.

He was then disappointed by the fact that his heir was a girl.  He was furious, but he still raised Katerina, for at least, he knew the child was his. 

When the bastard child, Azrael, was 13, his "father" had told him everything.  How he wasn't his, and how he absolutely hated him.  It infuriated Azrael.  His father had told him he hated him, that he wasn't his heir, and that he would never amount to anything other than a bastard. 

It was only 2 years later that Azrael was officially disgraced in the eyes of his father.  He had killed a man, and on that months full moon, he had to be magically restrained in the cellar of the manor.  For Azrael was a werewolf.  And his curse had been activated. 

So, while Katerina perceived her brother as being the perfect, loving brother that her mother adored, he knew he could not change their mind about Katerina being exiled. 

"No."

Katerina pulled away from his arm in shock.

"No? What do you mean Azrael? You can stop them from-"

Azrael shut her up by grabbing her mouth and forcing her to stop speaking.

"Dear sister, do you really think I would help you?  Do you think I could stop them from exiling you?  Father loathes me, and mother, well, she doesn't have anymore say in the matter than I do."

He let go of his sister and continued looking out the window. 

"But, you could do something!"

He turned towards her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"But I do not wish to.  Why would I help my sister who had become just like our mother; a whore." Azrael spoke harshly.

"What? I am not-"

"You are going to have a child outside of wedlock, Katerina.  You are just as much of a disgrace to the Petrova name as am I.  Now, leave me."

He turned to the window as he heard her open the door and walk out of his room.  He stood there before sighing.

"I am sorry Katerina, but I cannot help you... I wish I could.  But in order for my plans to take effect, you must not be in Bulgaria."

Azrael opened the window and stepped onto the window sill. 

"I'm sorry sister, but the Petrova family must die.  All except for you."

Azrael then jumped out of the window, falling out of the 3 story building towards a fence with pointed spikes.