C U R S E D
....:::: ⊹ • ° ACT ONE ° • ⊹ ::::....
SECRETS AND LIES

:･ﾟ⊹ :･. chapter one ˚｡･ﾟ⊹ :･
NEW AND FAMILIAR FACES

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ERIKA MIKAELSON HAS BEEN alive for a long time, and one of her favourite things to do to pass the time was sit back and relax in a comfortable ensemble, pick up a book, and put her feet up as she sipped on a glass of sweet wine. Today, she was reading her first edition of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It was her favourite book and a gift from her husband on her birthday.

While casually flipping through the pages of her book and occasionally taking a sip of her sweet wine, the last thing she expected was to hear the front door open up and for two people to walk inside her apartment, completely unannounced. And she certainly didn't expect one of them to be her brother-in-law.

After quickly glancing around her sizable apartment, Klaus met her eye and a grin slowly worked its way onto his face as he approached the sofa she was sitting on. "Well, if it isn't my dearest friend."

Her stomach burst with anger at the sight of her brother-in-law, and she glared sharply at him from where she was sitting. Erika then leaned forward, picked up the bottle of wine, and hurled it at him. But, much to her annoyance, he managed to duck out of the way in time and the bottle collided with the wall behind him.

Great, now I have to clean that up.

Klaus looked behind him at the shards of glass and puddle of red wine, before meeting her eye again. "That was quite rude."

"Fuck off, Niklaus."

"That's no way to treat your closest friend."

Finally, the man with her brother-in-law spoke, and his tone was that of surprise. "She's your friend?"

"My oldest and dearest friend," Klaus confirmed with a nod.

Absolutely fed up with his presence, Erika stood and threw the book at his face, praying that he wouldn't duck out of the way this time and she'd get to watch as it hit him. But, unfortunately, he caught the damn thing instead and casually glanced down at the title.

"You were going to hit me with a first edition of William Shakespeare's finest work?" Klaus said in disbelief and shaking his head. "I'm disappointed in you, Erika."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, don't be that way," Klaus scolded. He then glanced at the extremely confused Stefan Salvatore standing beside him. "We had a fight about a century ago and perhaps she's still mad at me."

Stefan raised a brow. He wanted to say something but decided that his silence was more appropriate.

Erika's nostrils flared in anger. "Perhaps? You forced me to leave everything, Nik."

"To protect you," Klaus defended.

She scoffed. "I didn't need your protection then, and I don't need it now. Just leave. I don't want you here, Niklaus."

"Fine, fine, I'll leave," Klaus said, throwing his hands up in surrender and slowly backing away toward the door. "But you should know that you're disappointing Rebekah by making me leave. We both know she'd want to see you and wouldn't be pleased with the thought of you turning her away."

"It isn't Rebekah that I'm turning away, it's you," Erika corrected. "And if Rebekah is here, then she can come and see me for herself. Just be a decent man and give her my address."

"Well, you see, our dearest Rebekah is still waking up from a nap," Klaus explained, and that made her blood boil.

Klaus was her best friend, it had always been that way since she married his older brother. But she hated whenever he daggered his siblings, daggered her love. It made her blood boil knowing he could do such a thing to his siblings and still sleep soundly at night. She tried to wake Kol once, but that didn't go so well and he ended up in the coffin anyway.

"You daggered Rebekah, again?" Erika practically growled. "Why do you insist on always stabbing your siblings in the back whenever the mood strikes you? You have no idea what that feels like."

"Neither do you," Klaus retorted.

It was true that she wasn't an original vampire like the rest of Mikaelsons were, and there were times when she was glad that Esther chose not to include her in the spell. Being daggered was one of those reasons. She had heard stories from both Kol and Elijah about what it felt like to be daggered and she never wanted to suffer in such a way.

"You're right, I don't know what it feels like to be daggered, and I'm honestly grateful that I will never know," Erika said. "But I've been told what it feels like, so I can at least sympathize with all your siblings that way."

"Oh, they're just being dramatic."

"Dramatic? Are you kidding me?" Erika went to say more, but knew it was pointless. Her best friend would never admit he was wrong when it came to daggering his siblings. So she just sighed, rubbed her temples, and then crossed her arms. "Okay, you know what, I don't really feel like arguing with you right now. All I care about is seeing Rebekah again. Where is she? Where can I see her?"

"She's in a warehouse," Klaus explained. "If you are nice and say please, I'll take you to her."

"You're seriously going to try and get a fucking 'please' out of me right now?"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt."

Erika shook her head and just looked at him. They held each other's stare for several moments, and when she realized that he wasn't going to take her to see Rebekah unless she said please, she clenched her fists and breathed deeply through her nostrils. "Fine," she said with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Can I pretty please with a cherry on top, see my dearest sister, Niklaus?"

A grin spread across his face. "See, now was that so hard?"

She rolled her eyes. "Can we just leave?"

"Now that you have used manners, yes," Klaus nodded. "Oh, this is Stefan Salvatore, by the way. He'll be sticking around for a while."

Erika glanced at the bronze haired man and offered him a polite smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Stefan. I'm Erika."

Although Stefan politely smiled back, they could both tell that he was incredibly uncomfortable, having been completely silent during their entire conversation. "Uh, yeah, how is it you two know each other?"

Klaus jumped in before Erika could explain, patting Stefan on the shoulder and then making his way toward the door. "That is a long story for another time, Stefan. Now, let's go see Rebekah before I get anything else thrown at my head."

"Don't tempt me," Erika muttered as she followed them out the door, but not before at least cleaning up the wine from the floor so it wouldn't stain. She left the shards of glass there though, knowing she didn't have the time to dispose of them properly right now.

━━━━━━

THEY ARRIVED AT A WAREHOUSE about ten minutes later and Erika couldn't help but feel butterflies in her stomach as she walked inside. She hadn't seen any of the Mikaelsons in a century, and a part of her was worried that Rebekah might react badly to seeing her again after she left them all without an explanation, but she didn't really care. All she wanted was to see her sister-in-law again.

Klaus led both her and Stefan down various hallways within the warehouse until they finally arrived in a small room with coffins scattered here and there. Erika glanced at each of them, easily recognizing them as the coffins that housed the people she loved. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach when she saw her husband's coffin right there next to Kol's, but she quickly looked away when she heard Klaus let out an irritated sigh from across the room.

"Come on, little sister, it's time to wake up now," Klaus said, but it didn't work. She had been daggered for a while and it would take time for her body to wake up.

Erika walked over and shoved Klaus out of the way so she could see Rebekah. She peered down over the coffin and found the blonde vampire lying peacefully against the white satin linen, hands flat over her stomach. She noticed the dagger had already been removed and placed at the blonde's feet, which were concealed with expensive white heels.

She leaned down over the side of the coffin after a moment, brushing her hand against Rebekah's gray cheek with a small smile on her face. But then she frowned when she looked at Rebekah's gorgeous white flapper dress and feathered headband and realized that her dearest sister-in-law had been daggered since the twenties.

She was going to have a hell of a time adjusting.

"How much longer will this take?" Stefan asked.

"It's hard to say," Erika replied. "She's been daggered for a few decades now and her body needs time. We just need to be patient with her."

"Well, I'm not sitting around waiting for her to wake up," Klaus said. "Come on, let's get ourselves a drink. We'll come back later for Rebekah."

Not even bothering to get a response from either of them, Klaus turned on his heel and left the warehouse. Stefan followed not even a minute later, but Erika remained where she was. She stayed with Rebekah for a few more moments, brushing the blonde's cheek and holding her hand, before leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"I'll see you later, sister," Erika said quietly.

She stepped away from Rebekah's coffin and started to leave, but couldn't help it when her feet stopped moving halfway and her eyes found her husband's coffin yet again. She suddenly found herself wanting to know if he was inside the coffin or if he was out in the world somewhere.

Erika's feet carried her toward the coffin, and only after hesitating for a short moment, she sucked in a shaky breath and opened it up. The wind was insantly knocked out of her lungs when she saw her husband inside, and her heart suddenly started racing at the sight of him.

It had been so long since she last saw Elijah, and every night since she was forced to leave them all, she wished for nothing more than to be in his arms again. But she couldn't. She had to stay away because of Klaus, and she would never forgive him for that.

She leaned down, brushing her hand against his gray cheek, and shivered at how cold he was. She missed how warm he always was. In all the years they were together, she had never once been cold when she was by his side. That is, until she had to leave.

"I'm so sorry, my love," she whispered, tears stinging her eyes. "I didn't plan to ever leave your side, but I had no other choice."

Erika leaned down, placing her forehead against his, and suddenly memories came rushing back. Most of the time, before he would kiss her, Elijah would place his forehead against her own, noses touching, lips inches apart, and then he would leave her waiting for a kiss. She always found the anticipation most exciting. And no matter how many times he had kissed her that way, he never failed to make her heart flutter.

Oh, how I have missed you, my love.

She remained there for a moment, her tears falling onto his gray skin, then she stood up straight and looked down at the dagger sticking out of his expensive suit. She wanted nothing more than to pull it out, grab hold of his hand, sit by his side, and kiss him the moment he woke up.

But she couldn't.

Erika was worried about what might happen if her husband woke up. She didn't know how he would react to seeing her again, especially if he knew the real reason why she left. If he didn't even bother trying to look for her after she left them, then he had to know what happened that night, right? Obviously he was angry and didn't want to see her, right?

Even though she really wanted to pull the dagger out, Erika closed the coffin and stepped away. She wiped the tears from her face and left in a hurry, knowing if she remained in the warehouse any longer that she might end up waking Elijah. And she really didn't want to find out if he knew and was mad at her for what happened.

━━━━━━

ERIKA HAD CAUGHT UP TO Klaus and Stefan on the sidewalk and followed them all the way toward Gloria's Bar. Even though she had lived in Chicago for almost five years now, she hadn't been to this bar before, but thought it was a nice little place with good structure and pleasant music to drink your liquor at.

The dark-skinned woman working behind the bar put her hands on her hips when she saw Klaus. "I said I needed Rebekah, not . . . whoever she is. Where is your sister?"

"Well, technically, she is my sister," Klaus said cheekily.

"No, I'm your sister-in-law," Erika corrected. "There's a difference. And to answer your question, Miss . . ."

"Gloria," the woman introduced herself.

Erika offered the woman a polite smile. "Well, Gloria, my dearest sister-in-law was daggered by her inconsiderate older brother, so whatever you need Rebekah for, it'll have to wait until she wakes up."

Gloria sighed and glanced at Klaus, who smiled innocently, before she served them some beers. "Fine. Guess we're waiting."

Klaus grabbed the beer and took a drink, before looking at the troubled-looking Stefan Salvatore. "What's with you? I thought Chicago was your playground."

"So this is why you asked me to be your wingman? Because you liked the way that I tortured innocent people?"

Erika raised her brows at that. Well, at least now I know why Klaus keeps this guy around. They've obviously had some have fun torturing people together. That definitely sounds like the kind of person Klaus would be friends with.

"Well, that's certainly half of it."

"What's the other half?" Stefan asked.

Klaus leaned forward and grabbed a bottle of tequila from behind the counter. He poured three shots and then passed one off to both Erika and Stefan. "The other half, Stefan, is that you used to want to be my wingman." He raised his shot. "To friendship."

Wordlessly, Stefan clinked his shot glass with Klaus', but he didn't drink it and rather asked another question. "So, I'm confused. If we were such great friends, then why do I only know you as the hybrid dick who sacrificed my girlfriend on an altar of fire? Huh?"

Erika almost choked on her shot of tequila, coughing and turning to face the younger vampire with an incredulous expression. "Klaus sacrificed your girlfriend on an altar of fire and you're still friends with him?"

Stefan looked around the hybrid to stare at the female vampire. "I'm not friends with Klaus. Your supposed best friend forced me to leave my home because he didn't want to be alone when he started making hybrids."

Erika's eyes widened slightly when what Stefan said suddenly hit her, and then her brows furrowed in confusion. Hybrid dick? When he started making hybrids? What was that supposed to mean? Had her brother-in-law finally broken the curse? Was he a full-on hybrid now? Was Stefan's girlfriend that died in the sacrifice also the doppelgänger? She had so many questions to ask him, but knew they were better for another time, so she settled for an apology toward Stefan and his troubled past with Klaus.

"Well, damn," Erika frowned. "Sorry to hear that, Stefan. My brother-in-law can be kind of a dick sometimes." She nudged his shoulder. "Isn't that right, Nik? You just love forcing people to leave their homes and the people that they care about."

Klaus rolled his eyes, before responding to Stefan's previous question. "All good things must come to an end."

"Are you going to elaborate, or am I supposed to just guess what happened between us?" Stefan asked impatiently.

After pouring himself another shot of tequila, Klaus began telling Stefan everything that happened between them in the twenties. Well, not everything, Erika was pretty sure he left a lot of things out, but still. What he did say was that something happened between both them and Rebekah and that he had to compel Stefan to forget everything that happened because they needed to leave Chicago for reasons Klaus did not mention. Erika suspected they were fleeing from Mikael again, but she didn't ask that question in front of Stefan Salvatore.

"You compelled me to forget?"

"It was time for Rebekah and I to move on," Klaus shrugged, draining his shot glass. "Better to have a clean slate."

"But why? You shouldn't have to cover your tracks . . ." A look of realization crossed Stefan's features. "Unless you're running from someone."

Erika fought the urge to smirk as she took another sip of her beer. Smart guy.

"Storytime's over," Klaus said sternly, looking ahead at the bar and the pictures along the wall as he kept drinking.

Stefan knew that he was right about what he said, Klaus had obviously been running from something. But he didn't press for more information. Instead, he looked directly at Klaus and said, "I need another drink. A real one."

Klaus waved him off, silently giving the younger vampire permission to leave so he could satisfy his blood cravings.

The moment Stefan was gone, Erika looked at her brother-in-law. "Was he right? Were you both running from Mikael?"

"Yes, and Elijah as well," Klaus answered. "Though, I could only dagger Rebekah in time. Elijah got away on his own."

Erika gulped, her throat going dry. If her husband wasn't daggered in the twenties, then did he know? Is that why he never came looking for her after she left?

Seeming to read his best friend's thoughts, Klaus said, "I didn't dagger him that night. Your dearest husband has only been daggered a few months."

"Does he know?"

Before she could get an answer, Gloria announced that it was last call, and then someone sat down on the other side of Erika, causing Klaus' eyes to harden slightly. She furrowed her brows and turned to see who the person was that was now sitting beside her.

The guy couldn't have been any older than them⎯⎯physically, at least, as she suspected that he had to be a vampire since his confidence reeked with that of a young immortal⎯⎯and he had sharp blue eyes and hair the colour of raven wings. She didn't recognize him in the slightest, but Klaus clearly did judging by the annoyed expression plastered across his face.

"I see they've opened the doors to the riff-raff now," Klaus greeted.

"Oh, honey, I've been called worse," the raven-haired vampire smirked.

Klaus looked past Erika to meet his stare, and she suddenly felt uncomfortable being in the middle of them. "You don't give up, do you?"

"Give me my brother back . . . you'll never have to see me again."

Erika's eyes widened slightly as she reached for her own beer. "You're Stefan's brother? Well, things just got interesting."

"Who is she?" Damon asked.

"Not important," Klaus said.

"Fine. Just give me my brother back."

Klaus smiled, eyes dancing with amusement. "Well, I am torn. You see, I promised Stefan I wouldn't let you die, but how many freebies did I really sign up for? And clearly you want to die, otherwise you wouldn't be here, so . . ."

"What can I say? I'm a thrill-seeker."

"Sounds like you're an idiot to me," Erika mumbled, and the glare she received from the raven-haired vampire left her smirking.

In a flash, Klaus vanished from the barstool and grabbed the vampire around the throat, lifting him off the floor one-handed while reaching for a toothpick with his other hand. He shoved the toothpick inside the vampire's chest, emitting a pained groan. "Oh, dear, what was that? I'm boozey, so you'll forgive me if I miss your heart the first few tries."

"Nik," Erika warned. "Come on, let's not make a scene in this lovely little bar. Just put the guy down and let him leave."

"No, I think I'll keep him right where he is," Klaus said with a grin, before he stabbed the toothpick into his chest again, emitting a grunt of pain from the younger vampire. "Oh! No, that's not it. Hmm." He stabbed him again. "Oh. Almost."

"Nik, I'm serious," Erika warned. "That's enough. Let the man go."

She had never been the type of person that liked to see people in pain or cause people pain. Even when she was human, she never did anything that could end in such a way. So, as Niklaus Mikaelson's best friend, she made it her job to stop him whenever he took things a little too far for her liking.

"Just enjoy your drink, Erika," Klaus told her, before angling the toothpick upwards towards the younger vampire's heart.

"You want a partner in crime?" The raven-haired vampire said, his voice strained voice. "Forget Stefan. I'm so much more fun."

Klaus threw the raven-haired vampire across the room and he landed on top of a table, breaking it into several pieces upon impact. Erika cringed, knowing that Gloria wasn't going to be very pleased with the mess that was being made in her bar.

"Nik!"

Her brother-in-law simply ignored her and walked over to the younger vampire, ripping part of an already broken chair off as a makeshift stake and crouching over him. "You won't be any fun after you're dead."

Klaus held the younger vampire down with one hand and raised the stake with the other. Erika's eyes widened in panic, and even though she didn't know the younger vampire well, she at least knew that he didn't deserve to die when he was just trying to save his little brother's life.

Erika sped over and grabbed hold of Klaus' wrist, squeezing hard enough until she heard a bone snap, causing him to release the stake and for the makeshift weapon to clatter to the floor. She picked it up before he could get his hands on it again, and then leaned down and whispered dangerously close to his face, "I said that's enough, Nik. Now let the man go."

"You're no fun," Klaus pouted.

Just then, Gloria emerged from the back of the bar and she shook her bald head at the mess Klaus was making. "Hey, uh-uh. Not in my bar. You take it outside."

The moment Damon tried to sit up, Klaus pushed him back down. "You don't have to negotiate your brother's freedom. When I'm done with him, he won't want to go back."

━━━━━━

NOT LONG AFTER KLAUS' SCENE at the bar and Stefan's brother left without another word spoken to either of them, they called the younger Salvatore and told him that they were going to the warehouse to check up on Rebekah and to meet them there whenever he was done feeding on some helpless human somewhere.

They entered the room where all the coffins were being held, and the first thing the pair noticed was the man lying dead on the floor and Rebekah's empty coffin. Erika remained in the center of the room while Klaus approached the coffin, a smile appearing on his stubbled face.

"Rebekah," he called, looking around the room for any sign of the blonde vampire. "It's your big brother. Come out, come out, wherever you are."

There was a sudden rush of wind that blew Erika's hair over her shoulders and a loud masculine gasp, and the brunette vampire smiled at the sight of her sister-in-law shoving the dagger deep into Klaus' chest.

"Go to hell, Nik," Rebekah smirked, plunging the dagger even deeper into her older brother's chest, before taking a step away and frowning slightly when he didn't seem to be in as much pain as she hoped he would.

Klaus removed the dagger from his chest with a grunt and dropped it. "Don't pout. You knew it wouldn't kill me."

"Yeah, but I was hoping it would hurt more."

"I understand that you're upset with me, Rebekah . . . so I'm going to let that go. Just this once," Klaus warned. "Brought you two peace offerings, dear sister."

"Hey Bekah," Erika said, finally making her presence known.

The blonde vampire turned, and judging by the look of surprise that quickly spread across her face, Erika knew she hadn't even noticed that she was standing in the room the entire time until this very moment.

"Erika?" Rebekah gasped. "Is that really you?"

"It's really me," Erika nodded, spreading her arms and allowing her sister-in-law to run into them.

They held onto each other tightly, swaying slightly, and Rebekah laughed happily. "I can't believe you're actually here! Where did you go? We were so worried when you just vanished. Elijah had gone mad."

Erika stepped back, glancing briefly at Klaus, who silently shook his head in her direction. She knew that he was telling her that Rebekah didn't know about her secret, about why she had left them. Thank goodness.

She looked back at Rebekah and quietly cleared her throat. "Uh, well, it's a long story. I'll tell you some other time, okay?"

Rebekah frowned, but nodded anyway. She then turned to face her brother and raised her brows. "You said two peace offerings, Nik. What's the other?"

"So impatient, my little sister," Klaus said teasingly.

"Nik," Erika said.

"You can come in now," Klaus called out, and suddenly a set of footsteps could be heard entering the room of the warehouse. It was Stefan, and the sight of him had Rebekah glowing all of a sudden.

The blonde vampire's lips parted in surprise and she took a delicate step toward him. "Stefan . . ."

Erika watched as her brother-in-law approached Stefan, placing one hand on his shoulder while looking deeply into his eyes. She knew that he was about to compel him.

"Now you remember," Klaus said.

A rush of memories came crashing down on Stefan all at once, and suddenly, he remembered everything. He looked at Rebekah with a look of recognition and adoration rather than confusion, and the way the blonde's name slipped from his lips left Erika smiling because she could tell they had truly cared about each other in the past.

"Rebekah," Stefan said, voice barely above a whisper as he approached the blonde, but he stopped and looked over his shoulder at the hybrid when Klaus called his name. "I remember you. We were friends."

"We are friends," Klaus corrected, before cutting the tender moment short and looking at his younger sister. "And now the reason you're here. Gloria tells me you know how to contact the original witch."

Rebekah begrudgingly looked away from the man she had loved in the twenties and turned to face her brother. "The original witch?"

Erika furrowed her brows. "What does any of this have to do with the original witch?"

Ignoring his best friend, Klaus went on, "What do you have that Gloria needs?"

The blonde vampire thought for a moment before reaching up and touching her neck, but gasped when she realized that her necklace was missing. "Where's my necklace? What did you do with it? I never take it off!"

"I don't know. I didn't touch it," Klaus promised.

Rebekah was starting to panic now, and Erika knew it was because that necklace meant the world to her. "We need to find it, Nik. Now, I want it back!"

"Tell me that's not what she needs, Rebekah!"

The blonde stormed away from her older brother and began digging through the coffin with Erika's help, but neither of them could find it, causing Rebekah to throw the coffin to the ground with a loud cry of frustration.

"Hey, relax," Erika said calmly, taking her sister-in-law by the shoulders. "We'll find your necklace, okay? I promise. But right now, you need to remain calm."

Rebekah took a deep breath and then nodded her head, before falling into her sister-in-law's arms. "Thank you, Erika."

a/n: i am so beyond excited to have posted this! erika already means so much to me, and i adore her relationships with all the characters so much. also, care to make any predictions about what might have happened in the past that caused erika to leave the mikaelsons?