Human [Klaus Mikaelson]

Preface

July 1924

Klaus Mikaelson felt himself almost skipping down the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse. It was such a warm and clear summer night. New Orleans was so vibrant in the summer. However, there was a fear among the locals. The word through the bars where a serial killer was on the loose. The thought made Klaus smile. He enjoyed the fear he inflicted through this town. That is, he used to enjoy it. That all changed a month ago, when he met the most beautiful woman, he ever laid eyes on.

Her name was Rose. She was a widow from Virginia who had lost her husband during the first world war. He met her the day he went into his favorite deli for lunch. Rose was working the deli counter. It took him days of going to the deli to work the nerve to ask her name.

After that, it didn't take long for him to ask her to dinner. The rest was history. Although their romance has been short, and a whirl wind, Klaus felt love in his heart for her. She was tall, with long legs. Her skin was the color of porcelain and hair red as fire. She had small freckles that dotted her nose. She always smelt of vanilla.

Of course, Rose had no idea what he was. He preferred to keep it this way. He also preferred to keep her his darkest secret. He had a lot of enemies. Enemies that would love to know how much he cared for something, so they could destroy it. Klaus felt his smile grow wider when he came upon the deli. Rose lived in the apartment above the deli.

He practically ran up the stairs. He knocked three times on her door. She never came. Weird, he thought. Rose was most defiantly expecting him. Klaus knocked again. She never came to the door.

Klaus tried the handle, and the door creaked open. He smelt blood before he saw anything. Rushing into the apartment, he followed the sweet metallic smell into Rose's bedroom. He felt a pain in his heart when he saw her face down in the mattress. Tears stained his eyes when he rolled her over.

Her neck was covered in blood. Her beautiful blue eyes were softly closed. Someone had killed her. A vampire had killed her. Klaus cried with her in his arms for hours, gently kissing her cold skin. By the morning, he had left the apartment and New Orleans for good.

July 2017

"Olivia, are you coming this century?" Stacy Hall called down the hallway to her daughter.

Olivia chuckled, brushing her hair down. She looked at herself in the mirror above her bathroom sink. She had her red hair flat on her head. She had a little mascara on. The blue top she wore brought the blue out in her eyes. She wasn't wearing any foundation, so the freckles on her nose were showing.

Olivia flicked the light off to the bathroom, walking down the hall. Her mother was sitting on the couch, scrolling on her phone. Olivia could not look any more opposite from her mother. Stacy had raven hair and was very short, with tan skin. Olivia had red hair, porcelain skin, and bright blue eyes. Olivia knew she looked like her father.

She had never met her father. However, Stacy had a picture of him tucked away in an old photo album that Olivia found once. The resemblance was unsettling.

"Well, it's about time." Stacy said, standing to her feet.

Her mother was wearing a pair of jeans and a Red-Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt.

"I'm ready." Olivia said, going to the front door.

"It's about time, we don't want to be late for this appointment."

Olivia was twenty-two. She graduated in May from Parsons in New York with her degree in art. She was enrolled to go back in the fall for her Master's. However, the spring Olivia started to get intense migraines from nowhere. She went to a neurologist with her mother. Today was the day all her results were back.

"You drive?" Olivia opened the door, looking back at her mom.

Her mom laughed. "Don't I always when you're home?"

Olivia was an only child. Her mother lived in Eastern Kentucky. When Olivia was away at school, she was alone. It made Olivia feel guilty. However, her mother was always supportive of her getting an education. Her mom had given up her dream at getting her master's degree because she got pregnant the summer before school started. However, she never made Olivia feel like she ruined her life. Olivia loved her mother, and her mother loved Olivia.

'Shot gun." Olivia joked, hopping in the front seat of her mom's beetle bug.

Her mom jumped in the driver's seat and backed out of their long driveway. Olivia loved being home. There was always such a calm among the trees. The wind whispered soft songs to them, making them blow gently. She loved hearing her mom's southern drawl hug her ears. She could even hear her own southern drawl come out more when she was home.

John Denver softly played on the radio as the women drove through down. Dr. Baker could see the beetle pull up to the clinic from his window. He already had tears in his eyes. How was he going to tell a twenty-two-year-old she only had a year to live?

He watched as Olivia and her mother got out of the car, making their way into the clinic. He had known the women Olivia's entire life. He knew how much they struggled. Stacy had been a single mom since he delivered Olivia. This was going to kill them both.

The nurse got Olivia's vitals and put them in room 204.

"When we get out of here, I'm thinking burgers for lunch?" Olivia asked her mom from the bed.

Stacy nodded from her seat beside the sink.

"Burgers would be perfect."

"Jalapeno poppers, too." Olivia stated, raising an eyebrow.

Stacy laughed. "I think we can manage that."

A soft knock came at the door. Dr.Baker came in and took his seat.

"What's the damage, doc?" Olivia asked.

Dr.Baker had been her pediatrician since she was born. He looked at her with sad eyes.

"What's wrong?" Olivia asked.

Dr.Baker pulled out the scans. Olivia gasped, tears stinging her eyes. She saw a perfect ball wrapped around the stem of her brain. Dr.Baker explained she had a tumor. They wanted to do a biopsy. However, it was inoperable. She would die with this tumor.

Her mother cried out. Olivia couldn't make any noise. She silently sat and cried.

"How long can I live with this?" Olivia asked.

Dr.Baker bit his lip. "Around a year."

A year to live, Olivia thought.