Chapter 06

1703

After feeding on the entire crew of their vessel out of anger and anxiety, they drifted the rest of the way to New Orleans, compelling a small boarding crew to take their belongings to shore. Klaus was very eager to find his wife, mainly because the demon she had put with him talked to him in his dreams, that she wasn’t doing well and that her situation had become dire. Earlier he had told him that she had run out of his blood. Klaus had never intended to stay away from her for this long, but perhaps he had underestimated the danger she’d be in.

After being directed to their home, he could tell that she wasn’t there. Her trinkets were there, likely to protect the house, but he could tell that she hadn’t been home for a very long time.

“Nik,” Rebekah called out nervously from around the back of the house. “She has a horse that is also missing.”

Anger rising, he balled his fists before heading over to the nearest house and knocked on their door. When a man opened, Klaus grabbed him and pushed him up against the wall. “Where is my wife?!”

The plump man stared at him confused and looked around. “Who?”

“Myriam Mikaelson, where is she?” He demanded, slamming the man against the wall again.

He groaned as he glanced back towards the house. “I have no knowledge. I last saw the single woman two moons ago. She took off on her horse with her satchel and has not returned. My wife believes she does voodoo in the woods.”

“Where!”

“I do not know! No one goes near the woods near the whole moon! It’s not safe! I am sorry, but she is probably dead from the beasts!” he cried out.

“Niklaus,” Elijah warned him. “We do not kill our neighbours on our first day in.”

He turned to his brother. “Myriam…I should have come with her. She asked of me…”

“We’ll find her,” he said assuringly. “We’ll split up and cover more ground that way.”

“Let him go, Nik. Compel the good man and thank him for his non-information,” Rebekah sweetly said as she walked to her brother and caressed his back. “We can always come back and take a bite out of him later.”

“If she’s dead, this city will drown in blood.”

“Yes brother, we know,” she smiled at him. “Go on, compel him.”

He did as he was told before the three of them split up. At some point he was physically stopped and couldn’t go further, knowing that it was the demon guiding him. “Take me to Myriam then,” he said softly. “I allow you to move my body.” Klaus was propelled forward then, taking a few turns and then stopping again as a horse walked towards him, seemingly without a rider, but he could smell her, and her blood.

“Myriam,” he breathlessly said as he helped her off the horse and pulled her to the ground with him. It was clear that the wolves had tried to make a meal out of her, and from what he could tell she put up a good fight. Unfortunately, they got her too. He bit his wrist and held it to her mouth. “I’m here, love, drink. Please drink.” Her heart was already beating far too weak for her to survive this, but she needed to have his blood inside of her otherwise he’d lose her forever.

And he wasn’t prepared for that. That wasn’t their agreement. “Drink, sweetheart. There you go…”

“Klaus?” she sputtered as her eyes fluttered open. “Am I dreaming?”

“No. I’m here now. Just sleep, and all will be well,” he whispered, pulling her closer to himself. “I will bring you home and get you cleaned up, and you will be good as new.”

She shivered in his hold and closed her eyes. “I waited for you.”

“I know, love. I know,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her hairline. “Conserve your strength right now and rest. I’m not leaving your side.” He had found her just in time. Hearing her heartbeat fade was painful, but she was going to return. Her wounds had already started to heal, and while he felt bad for her horse, he wanted to get her home as fast as he could. He would take the saddlebags, but that was it. He merely had to wait until she faded completely. “Rest love, you’ll feel better when you wake up,” he whispered, and then she let go.

Elijah and Rebekah had returned from their search and were hoping that their brother had had more luck. Rebekah’s heart sank when her brother walked into their home with a dead Myriam in his arms. “Oh no!”

“I found her just in time,” Klaus said as he put her down on the bed and used his speed to clean her up and have her in a change of clothes. “But those wolves are going to pay.”

“Wolves? That’s going to get interesting,” Elijah mused.

“I will kill them all,” Klaus said as he looked at his brother. “And you won’t stop me.”

Elijah wanted to deny him but seeing the girl as she continued to heal he knew it would be fruitless to stop him. “Let us focus on Myriam for now. Her transition will be hard enough, and from what people have been whispering, I do not doubt the humanity she told you she wanted to keep until we arrived was not easy.”

“What did you learn?”

“That at first she was accepted like any new arrival and that she was participating in women’s clubs. It was frowned upon that she, as a woman, made her own furniture for her home as the slaves were working tirelessly to make sure everyone would get what they requested,” Elijah replied with a smile. “She built everything in this house herself, and I believe she had plans to extend the property but was stopped by the council. They had started to get doubts about her status.”

“I should have come with her,” he said again.

“I don’t believe she used her pets or her magic to help her along. After all, in a small community she’d easily been found out as a witch,” Rebekah added to her brother’s story. “It started to become a little suspicious that she often went to the marsh, though. Nobody dared to venture there.”

Klaus sighed and nodded. “Very well. Let’s get settled and make sure our brothers are safe while we wait for Myriam to come back to us so she can tell her story herself.”

Rebekah peered out of the window, taking notice of the curious neighbours. “I do not believe the neighbour was compelled enough. It seems he remembered enough to tell others of our arrival and her disappearance. Even with her turning, she may have to play decrepit for some time to the public. She won’t be happy at all.”

“And Niklaus, you’ll have to try to remain calm and collected when dealing with these humans, we do not wish to draw attention to ourselves,” Elijah told him. “It’s too early to get involved or to start murdering this colony. We need to get established first.”

“Then you deal with them! I’m covered in her blood because they drove her to hide in the woods instead of her home!”

He nodded as he headed outside the home and closed the door behind him. “We’d like to thank you for your concern for my sister-in-law, but I can assure you that we have been able to find her and she’s now resting.”

One woman from the gathering eyed him. “No one who dared to go to the morass on a whole moon has ever been found alive.”

Another shushed her. “I wasn’t even sure to believe she really had a husband as she claimed.”

“My sister-in-law was nowhere near that place when we found her. Rest assured, she is alright. And as for her marital status, she is married to my brother. We merely had some more business to attend to in France before we made the journey across the sea ourselves. Unlike some, we are a family who values women as equals to ourselves. Myriam was more than equipped to travel ahead and make sure our home was made.”

Many men sneered as they turned away, while the women whispered among themselves. The one who questioned her status from being in the marsh still stared at Elijah, sceptical of his story.

“Again, I wish to thank you for your concern. It’ll be lovely getting to know you all once we’ve settled.”

“Then I suppose she should be well enough for tea and quilting tomorrow, no?” The woman challenged.

“I said that she was found, and not in the marsh, however, she did have some wounds on her that require healing. Besides, I’m fairly certain that my brother wishes to spend a couple of days alone with his wife,” he said with a wink. “The poor bastard has been needing to help himself for the last few years!”

“There are plenty of girls around for that! No need for a wife!” One man laughed, earning a disgruntled glare from the pudgy woman beside him.

Elijah sighed and shook his head. “Should my brother, or myself, learn from Myriam if she was treated poorly, or taken advantage of, then those who are responsible for her misfortune will be held accountable. Myriam Mikaelson is not only a Mikaelson but the sole heir of the Medici fortune. Which you likely didn’t believe, or she may not have told you. Unlike her family, though, she’s not forgiving,” he said in a low voice. “I shall ask her if she wishes to join you for tea and quilting, but don’t be surprised if she chooses to be with her family that she had to miss for so long.”

The crowd began to break up, whispers of concern and nervousness spread between them as the names mentioned by Elijah were repeated, with warnings to stay away. The last to leave was the woman, and she was slow in her walk, haughty as she continued to believe she was better than any other in the village.

Elijah walked back inside and saw the concerned look on his sister’s face. “Oh, don’t worry, Rebekah, I believe that only one person knows that Myriam was attacked by wolves and she might know that because she’s one herself,” he smiled at her. “I believe I saw a brief flash of yellow eyes when she walked away.”

“You just had to use the Medici name. Myriam is going to kill you.”

“It’s what she should have done in the first place!”

“And no one would have believed her!”

“Zut Alors!” Myriam moaned as she tiredly rubbed her eyes. “Even in my dreams, you are loud!”

Klaus lifted his head from beside her, the exhaustion having caught up, grasping her hand. “How are you feeling, love? What do you remember?”

She felt hurt all over, weighing her down but she also felt that she wasn’t hurt. She looked at Klaus before realising where she was, and she did remember that she was in the marsh and had abandoned her home. “I’m dreaming?”

He smiled and shook his head. “You’ve asked me that already, but no. You are not.”

“Then I am dead.”

“If you don’t ingest some human blood in the next 24 hours you will be. You’re not dreaming, love. You’re awake, and we are here.”

Myriam managed to sit up then, blinking as she took in who was present in their home and then looked at Klaus again. “You’re here.”

“I am,” he smiled at her. “Now what do you remember?”

“I was too late getting out of the swamp. The moon was already filled before I realised… Was I attacked? Perhaps two days ago? I can’t remember, it’s fuzzy. Do I want to remember?”

“Perhaps it’s better if you don’t,” he said as he sat up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I am sorry it took us so long to get to you.”

She then looked at him, truly looked at him and noticed he was covered in blood. “Is that…”

“Yours?” he asked as he followed her gaze. “Yes, sorry love, I only thought about cleaning yourself up and didn’t think about doing the same for myself. You would have been dead if your demon hadn’t guided me to you.”

Myriam was quiet as she looked around again, ignoring Rebekah and Elijah watching her from the opposite end of the room. She reached up to her neck and couldn’t find her necklace that held a few ornaments for her demons. “I have to find my necklace. If they aren’t broken, then they won’t be free, ever. I need my necklace.”

“Don’t worry about your trinkets, love,” he replied calmly. “You can still have your demons to play with once you transition. Your magic, however, will be gone, but you will gain strength, stamina and heightened senses.”

“I know what it entails to be a vampire! I’ve lived with you all for nearly four years until you sent me here! To die!” she snapped at him.

“We didn’t know about the wolves!” Klaus countered in the same tone of voice as she had used on him.

Her eyes turned back to his, her lip curling back. “It was wolves…mon Loulou?”

“And if you turn, I promise, we will get them all and slaughter them,” he replied darkly.

“I want to kill them,” she growled. “But first, what was that outside? If I have to attend another one of those dreadful functions, you won’t have your father to fear. I will kill you myself.”

“Sweetheart, you won’t have anything to worry about. You can do what you wish.”

“From what I saw is they were nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. If they had truly cared for you as if you were one of their own, they would have organised a rescue party for you,” Elijah spoke. “However, we need to tread with caution; Nouveaux-Orleans is still a colony in the midst of being populated and grow as a settlement. You can’t kill anyone as of right now, as it would decimate the population and it would become suspicious.”

Myriam stood and began to pace the length of the room with agitation. She could not help but rub at her gums that begun to ache. “I had to have been set up. I have never stayed for the moon because of the stories. I’m not that naive, and I was out of Klaus’ blood. And my blasted mouth hurts!”

“Did you drink or eat anything from someone who gave it to you before going into the morass?”

She started to shake her head. “I don’t think so, no. But the last few days are a blur. I remember afternoon tea…”

Elijah smirked then. “I know just the right person for you to have for your first meal, Myriam. She challenged me and asked if you’d come for tea and quilting tomorrow.”

“That’s fucking Valerie,” she growled. “She’s supposedly the healer of this town after her husband passed a month after we arrived here. She’s one of the heavy influencers and had it out for me since the beginning. She lives a few doors down. Can’t miss it, she has beds of flowers around her home.”

“That hideous house surrounded by vervain. Just lovely,” Rebekah complained.

“Be grateful it’s around her house now, it used to grow in the wild and I had my demons take care of it,” she replied. “Although I could ask them to set it alight now…”

“Which would be irresponsible seeing as it will be suspicious and we are the only new arrivals,” Elijah replied.

“So would the woman’s death,” Rebekah pointed out. “We need someone for her to transition, but less conspicuous. We can work up to the troll’s demise.”

“I might want to hog tie her and have her bleed out in a bathtub,” Myriam said as she kept rubbing her gums. “I’m hungry.”

Klaus smiled, pulling her over. “I know you are. And you will have her blood for your demons and your appetite as I am certain you will gain a certain taste for your victims. Come, I’ll take you out farther where we can find someone for you.”

“It’s nearly sunrise, Niklaus,” Elijah pointed out.

“Oh!” Myriam wrestled herself out of Klaus’ embrace and looked for her box of trinkets. Out of the box came a pouch and she looked through it to find the prettiest she’d made. “Not to worry! I come prepared!”

There was a small pout on Klaus’ face, but he said nothing as he watched her slip the ring on her finger. He glanced at his siblings and their confused looks, shaking his slightly to avoid any comments.

“Let me guess, Kol?” Rebekah said eventually.

“He always believed I’d make a great vampire and wanted me to be prepared,” she said proudly as she then realised that he wasn’t there. “Speaking of Kol, where is he?”

Elijah sighed and had hoped that she wouldn’t notice. “After we sent you away, Kol returned and threw a major tantrum that lasted for months. It eventually lead to Mikael tracking us down and he wasn’t willing to go. We had to put him back into his box.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Free him.”

“We will, in time, when we’ve settled and that we know that we are safe and that we are able to keep him under control.”

“He’s out of control because you should have told him!” Myriam blurted. “You should have included him in the decision, and he would have come quietly, even agreed to all of this! This doesn’t seem like a family when Elijah Mikaelson makes the final say. Did you agree to this Rebekah? Niklaus?”

They both didn’t know where to look. “Kol is less agreeable than you may think,” Rebekah replied quietly.

She was hurt by the response, blinking as she stepped away from her sister. “I never saw this person you speak so poorly of, and when he is let out and takes his revenge on you, I will enjoy watching every second of it. Take me away from here Niklaus, please.”

He scooped her up and ran outside with her to the outskirts of the colony before setting her down again. “I’m sorry, love.”

Myriam sighed as she closed her eyes. “You were in agreement with him, I know.”

“The way that Kol was… it was impossible to reason with him without you there. It was a risk Elijah had been willing to take.”

She looked up at him, filled with annoyance. “Everything is about Elijah? Kol is your brother too. It was a risk sending me here alone and look what happened. I’m in transition because you all took your time coming. You were supposed to be here months ago! I’ve waited and hoped for your arrival! Just to stop hearing the whispers about the invisible husband I claimed to have! You made a promise!”

“We ran into some unanticipated trouble along the way, but love, I am here now, and I’m not going to let you out of my sight again, unless if you wish to be out of my sight for reasons beyond my comprehension,” he said calmly. “I am here. And once you’ve transitioned and adjusted, we shall prove everyone wrong. You will be seen with me. Elijah already promised the colonists that if we find out who has wronged you in any way, that there will be consequences, and that is true. You should not have been outcast.”

“Are you going to undagger Kol?”

“Not now, sweetheart. Perhaps next year, once we’ve assimilated into the colony?”

“I will remind you of that.”

“I hope that you do.”

She gave him a smile and turned to look around. “Alright, so I eat a human, I become a full vampire, then we can go home and go to bed, no?”

“Of course, you can rest if you want to. After all, you have appearances to keep up now,” Klaus smiled at her.

“That’s not quite what I had in mind Niklaus,” she frowned at his avoidance. “It’s been nearly 3 years, and I’ve kept my promise to you.”

“As have I,” he admitted before looking away from her in shame. “Admittedly, it’s only half the promise. I didn’t abandon you. I came for you. The rest… I’m ashamed to admit that it’s still a work in progress.”

She walked ahead, away from him as she could begin to pick up the scent of her own blood lingering on his clothes. “Just how long do you plan to have me wait? After all, we are married. Should I not get something out of this arrangement? Because that is what it is at the core. An arranged marriage. Something I had truly avoided after my mother died and having nothing,” she argued and stopped to turn and face him. “I’m just like your Katerina Petrova if you think of it. The way she arrived after she was ousted by her family. Only I have no ulterior motives against you, and you don’t need my blood for a ritual.”

“You are nothing like Katerina!”

“Then why deny me at every turn?! We are here for me to transition! That was your condition I remember,” she pointed out. “As soon as we come across a human and I drink, that excuse is gone. What is your next one? Elijah? Kol?”

“No.”

“What then!”

“Your adjustment period, love. The time where you learn to deal with your heightened senses and emotions. And once you’re through that, we’ll see what happens then.”

“Klaus!”

“You could still leave me! Once you’re through all of that, you could change your mind like a switch, and you could still leave me!”

She threw her arms up in exasperation. “What do I have to do Klaus? To prove to you that I’m dedicated? I was here, trusting you to come to me. For three human years, and you can’t do the same.” Myriam turned and walked away again in search of a human as the hunger truly began to fill her with pain and make her tired. “Even now, I’m going through the transition to be with you for eternity. Like you asked. What more do you want?”

He remained silent as he watched her walk towards one of the vagabonds that were on the outskirts of town. While they hadn’t been here before, they had gone through the long and painful process of seeing colonies grow, and there were always vagrants out of town. He’d have preferred it if she had a clean human to have her first feed from, but Elijah was correct; the colony was still too small. There was a chance that Myriam would kill her first meal, and that would have been suspicious.

“Should I put you under a spell? What?”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” he replied, a small smile on his lips. Yes, he was aware that he wasn’t being fair and that he was denying himself – and Myriam – a lot of good things, but she was fragile right now. And would be until she’d come out of her adjustment phase. He had often wondered what it would be like to live like husband and wife.

As expected, Myriam did not let her victim live. In fact, she appeared to have no intention of trying. Letting it go, she walked past Klaus towards the village, keeping her eyes on his. “I’m going home now. I suppose I will expect you for supper, husband,” she murmured before disappearing.

He walked over to the body of the person that she had killed and ripped it to shreds, throwing his body parts as far away as he could, to release some of his frustration with himself, but also with his very demanding wife. He then made his way back home, hoping to find some alcohol in the home.

Upstairs Myriam could be heard moving things around, occasionally items thrown from the bedroom to another across the hall. Rebekah sighed as she noticed her brother return. “First marital crisis?”

“Stay out of it, Rebekah.”

“Let me guess, it’s about everything else that comes with marriage? Love. Affection. Something you haven’t been working on for the past 3 years because you were too busy freaking out about Mikael.”

Elijah came down the stairs seemingly defeated and at a loss for a resolution. “It appears your room is across the hall now. She’s in the process of removing everything she’s collected for you and – relocating it. What happened?”

“Nik won’t open his heart to her and give her everything she needs,” Rebekah mused. “Maybe we should undagger our brother so he can teach Nik how to do it.”

Klaus growled at his sister. “She just transitioned. She may not realise it, but she needs some time to acclimate!”

“She has been lonely for three years, Nik! All she wants is affection and for her husband to love her, but you’re incapable of that, aren’t you?”

“Rebekah,” Elijah warned her upon seeing his brother’s angry face.

“Transitioning or not, she has had these feelings for a very long time. As a human. And you do know that now that she’s a vampire, those feelings will only be amplified.” Rebekah pointed out, ignoring her brother. “Give it to her, Nik. And allow yourself to be happy!”

Elijah was unable to defend Klaus because she was right and looked back at him. The lack of sound from behind him had him grimace as he turned to find Myriam at the top of the stairs. “I was aware of that as well,” she shrugged. “No matter. His things are in the small room, and I am going to go find my pendants that the wolves made me lose.”

“Wouldn’t it just be lovely if they were found by the colonists?” Rebekah suggested a broad smile on her face.

“Exactly why I need to get them back.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun. Very well, ducky, I’ll come with you.”

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