Anastasia's Story

Chapter 15- thorns

Chapter 15

I was mesmerized, studying the beautiful curves and mazes the roses in the garden presented. They were so beautiful in the sunlight and I reached for one of them. It was more beautiful than the others, more perfect and freshly nourished from the rain last night. I reached for the rose and when I pulled on it I felt a prick of pain on my index finger, I had been gashed by the thorns on the effervescent rose.

Klaus came out of the main house from talking with my mother, who had just gotten back from visiting my sister, he was walking toward the garden and when he finally reached me, he grinned at me. I was still sitting on one of the garden benches, dumbfounded and petrified wondering if my bleeding index finger would set him off. He sensed my fear and tilted my chin toward him.

"What's wr-" he started to ask in a concerned voice but stopped in his tracks, he must've smelt my blood. His eyes became something entirely different, it was as if they weren't his at all anymore, like a demon had possessed his body. The skin under his eyes transformed into hungry veins and I knew what would happen next, it was happening all over again. He was giving in to his vampiric instincts like Rebekah had done not too long ago.

"Klaus," I whispered, "Klaus, hey, you can fight this." I didn't sound too confident, I suppose that's because I wasn't.

He didn't even look at me, he just lunged for my throat, his teeth bore into me like an animal's. It was as if his hunger couldn't be tamed his appetite was awakened and now there was nothing I could do but scream, hoping that somehow the sound of my pure terror would lull him out of his animalistic stupor.

My mother rushed outside after hearing my scream, she stood horrified at the sight of Klaus, an inhuman version of the charming man she had just met, sucking the blood out of me. She was snapped back into reality and as soon as she rushed up to us, Klaus pushed me aside into the rose bush and lunged for my mother.

I woke up, my heart pounding, bolt upright in bed. My forehead was drenched in sweat so I got up to dry my face before climbing back into the security of my bed. I was too excited for tomorrow, Klaus and I were having dinner at his country house after he gets back from a small city near London. He was meeting with the man he had earlier written about hunting down someone. I recalled the Mikaelson dinner party. "Bloody hell, Nik! You're spending your time hunting down Katerina when Michael is hunting us!" Rebekah's angry rasp played back in my head.

So then he was meeting the man who was supposed to track down Katerina. Was she an ex-lover? If she was, does that mean one day Klaus will hunt me down? My mind couldn't help but to walk down those streets, and my biggest fear was that even if this Katerina deserved it, what if he wasn't at a meeting what if the hunter had tracked her down? Would Klaus' revenge change him, maybe into someone resembling the nightmare Klaus in my dream?

I huffed and leaned back onto my pillow and stared straight up at my chandelier, so beautiful. Beautiful. Beauty. Didn't Klaus say he was tracking down a conniving beauty? Would he and Katerina end up in bed? I took a deep breath and let go of all the worries, he did hate her after all.

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I woke up and Conchita immediately handed me my mail.

"Conchita, you know I like to get my own mail just in case there's a letter from Marcus." I glanced out the window and saw that the sun had been out for quite some time.

"Mr. Kingston no write, Miss Anastasia, I check." she replied with a smile, handing me a cup of tea.

"Conchita, why does it appear that it is midmorning? Did you let me sleep in?" I inquire, taking the last few sips of my cup of tea and adjusting my pillows so that I was comfortably sitting up in bed.

"It just very sunny day Miss Anastasia." She responds. As she is about to leave the room she turns back to me and declares she is bringing me breakfast in bed, despite it being against father's rules. I frown, maybe one of my letters has bad news in it.

I picked up my two letters and sifted through the apologies and the good news. My parents were supposed to come home sometime next week, my father wanted to stay a couple more days to explore some business connections in London. Klaus, on the other hand, had some not so good news. His meeting had taken longer than expected and he wouldn't be back in town until Saturday night. I suppose that means that I can no longer look forward to our dinner tonight, instead I'll mull over the fact that he plans on attending church on Sunday.... to atone for sins? To be honest, Rebekah was probably dragging him to it so she could become part of Pastor Harmond's flock and seduce him.

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After dressing and reading in the library for about an hour I heard that there was a knock at the door. I put my book of poems down and headed for the main room, where Conchita announced that Philipa Winston was here to see me.

"Philipa, how are you today?" I exclaim in an excited tone as I rush to the door to greet her.

"I'm well, Anastasia, it's so nice to see you." she radiated kindness and her smile was infectious.

"Shall we spend the day outside, it's quite lovely." I offer, hoping she will keep me company and take my mind off of Klaus' absence.

I invite her inside the house and we sit down in the main room with some tea.

"Conchita," I call, as soon as she enters the room I continue, "Please notify Luis that Miss Winston and I will be spending the afternoon outside and we will need our bows and targets."

When we were alone Philipa turned to me and asked with a sly smile, "So how is Mr. Mikaelson?"

"I don't have any idea why you would think I knew. Last I heard he was out of town." I reply, shrugging and sipping my tea.

She looks at me, knowing full well that I was carrying on a relationship with Klaus.

"Come on, Anastasia, I saw the way you looked at him at the Mikaelson dinner, and I happen to know he had his servants working overtime to prepare a date on a cliff. So, was it romantic?" she asked, I was glad that she was at my side, always. Glad that I could trust her, after all, she and I had been friends since the day we both could walk.

"It was." I knew that she and I needed to talk, to just put everything out there, pray that this didn't change. I didn't want to admit it but it was very likely that we would both marry within the next year. What if she married a rich lord in London like my sister had, would I ever see her again?

"Do you see yourself as Misses Mikaleson?" she asked, looking at me with the concern and nurturing of a mother but the slyness and conspiratorial trust of a sister.

"I could see it, in the future, but not anytime soon I mean we've only just met. Perhaps it would be different if he were from here, then I'd know everything there is to know before marriage."

"Well I hope that he continues to be the amazing man you've clearly fallen for. Speaking of which, my mother is convinced that the reason I'm not married yet is simply because I haven't met all of the men here. So as a guise for matchmaking, she is literally inviting everyone important in the town to my granfather's vineyard up in Brigdale, for about three or four days of festivities and my mother thrusting me at all of the wealthy single men."

And with that she and I giggle, unable to control ourselves, both knowing her mother's determination to marry off her beautiful daughter. Soon after, Luis returned to announce that our afternoon activities had been all set up. As we walked past Luis, I could see Philipa glancing at him in admiration of his physique. She was right to admire- after all, his chestnut brown hair and spanish features paired with strong arms and a crooked smile would make any girl swoon, not me of course, but any other girl.

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AN: Sorry this chapter is so uneventful in regards to "Klaustasia" but the vineyard festivities Philipa mentions are a key role in the next couple of chapters, besides, I wanted to show you how she operates with her best friend.