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

:･ﾟ⊹ :･. chapter two ˚｡･ﾟ⊹ :･
STRANGE BEHAVIOUR

═════════════════════════
　

NOT LONG AFTER ERIKA HAD GOTTEN REBEKAH to calm down and had reassured the blonde vampire that they would do everything they could to find the necklace, they went back to Erika's apartment for the evening since Gloria had already closed up the bar.

The moment they stepped foot inside the apartment, Erika walked straight over to the kitchen, grabbed the garbage can, and started cleaning up the broken shards of glass from the hardwood floor that had thankfully not been stained when she threw the bottle of wine earlier.

"Was that a bottle of wine?" Rebekah asked. She could smell a sweet fruity scent wafting from the shards of glass that her sister-in-law was cleaning up.

"It was," Erika replied, turning to glare at Klaus over her shoulder.

"You're the one that threw it at me."

"You didn't have to duck out of the way."

"What was I supposed to do? Let it hit me?"

"Yes," Erika smirked. "Or, I don't know, catch it?"

Rebekah sighed, hands on her hips. "Please tell me it wasn't your last bottle."

"Don't worry, I've got some more stored away in the pantry," Erika assured the blonde.

"Wonderful," Rebekah smiled. "Mind if I pop one open?"

Erika shook her head. "Not at all. There's some glasses in the cabinet by the sink. Help yourself to anything you want. Same goes for you, Stefan. Not you, though, Niklaus."

The original hybrid gaped at her. "And here I thought I was your best friend."

"Well, I'm still mad at you, so you don't get any of my alcohol," Erika said simply as she got up from the kitchen floor and put the garbage can back where it belonged, before washing her hands and drying them with a towel.

After picking out a bottle of wine from the pantry, Rebekah looked at her brother. "What did you do to her now, Nik?"

"I didn't do anything," Klaus defended.

Erika scoffed. "Like hell you didn't."

The blonde vampire glanced between them with narrowed eyes. "What happened?"

"It's not important right now," Erika dismissed, pushing away from the counter and heading down the hallway toward the bedroom. "I'll draw you a bath, Bekah, and lay out some clothes for you on my bed."

Entering the bedroom, Erika headed straight for the connecting bathroom and got to work on the bath. She added some bath salts and scented bubbles and made sure the temperature wasn't too hot, before finding something for Rebekah to wear for the evening.

She could hear the others talking as she moved around the bedroom and got everything situated for when Rebekah got cleaned up, but she didn't listen in, not really in the mood to hear what Klaus had to say right now.

After a few minutes, Rebekah walked into the bedroom with a glass of wine in her hand. She glanced around the room, a light smile tugging at her lips when she noticed the photograph of Erika and Elijah on the bedside table, before plopping down onto the mattress.

"So are you going to tell me what happened between you and my brother?" Rebekah asked.

Erika glanced at the blonde. "I'm not in the mood to talk about your brother right now."

"Does it have anything to do with why you left us?"

"Rebekah," she groaned in annoyance, turning away from the dresser and laying out some nightwear on the bed.

"Why won't either of you tell me what happened?"

"I will," Erika promised, her features softening. "Just not right now, okay?"

"Fine," Rebekah sighed. "But I'm holding you to that, just so you are aware." She placed the glass of wine on the bedside table before reaching for the nightwear her sister-in-law had laid out for her. "These are what women wear to bed now? Where are the rest of them?"

Erika chuckled at the expression on the blonde's face. What she had chosen for her were a pair of silky navy blue shorts, a tank top that matched and some freshly cleaned undergarments. "They're actually pretty comfortable, believe it or not. But I can give you a nightgown if that's what you'd prefer?"

"Please," Rebekah pleaded, lowering the silky nightwear back onto the bed.

After Erika grabbed one of the few nightgowns that she owned from the dresser, she handed it off to Rebekah, who looked at the nightwear with the same expression as she did before with the silky shorts.

"I know, it's shorter than the dresses you're used to," Erika said. "But that's pretty much how all nightgowns are made these days."

The blonde sighed. "Well, it'll have to do for now. Thank you for the clothes, Erika."

"You're welcome."

Not much later, Erika left the bedroom to give her sister-in-law some privacy and made her way into the living room, where she found Klaus and Stefan sitting on the sofa together. The original was nursing a book in his hands and had his feet propped up on the coffee table as the younger vampire flipped through the channels on the television, a bored expression plastered on his face.

Erika immediately stormed over and shoved her brother-in-law's feet off the mahogany coffee table. "Don't put your boots on my furniture. Do you even know how expensive this coffee table was?"

Klaus rolled his eyes and put his feet down on the floor. "So bossy," he muttered.

She crossed her arms. "Lest you forget that this is my apartment. If you want to stay here while you're in Chicago, then you're going to follow my rules."

Klaus leaned toward Stefan. "Can you believe that I've had to put up with this for centuries?"

Stefan looked away uncomfortably, obviously not wanting to be part of this conversation.

"Are you trying to make me hit you? Because I will. Don't fucking tempt me, Nik." Erika then threw on a smile as she turned to look at the younger vampire. "Is there anything I can get you, Stefan? Glass of wine? Some bourbon or scotch? I've got some blood bags in the fridge if you'd rather have that?"

"Uh, no," Stefan replied, a little taken back by her sudden polite behaviour. "I'm good. Thanks."

"Well, if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask," Erika told him, before leaving the living room and entering the kitchen.

Silence enveloped the room, and after pouring herself a glass of the fruity wine Rebekah had opened up earlier, Erika plopped down on a chair in the living room and leaned back to watch whatever Stefan had chosen to put on the television.

Rebekah emerged from the hallway not much later, her blonde hair wrapped up in an expensive fluffy white towel on the top of her head. She was carrying an empty wine glass, which she quickly refilled before joining them in the living room.

"The nightgown will work for now," Rebekah announced to the room. "But I am going to need something to wear for tomorrow."

"I'm sure Erika has something you can borrow," Klaus replied, head down and eyes glued to the pages of the book he swiped from his best friend's collection.

Erika confirmed that with a nod. "You can wear whatever you want from my closet, Bekah, you know that."

"No offense, Erika, but I want my own clothes."

"No offense taken."

"I'm not taking you to buy new clothes, Rebekah," Klaus said, finally looking up from the book he was reading. "We have more important matters on hand."

"You stuck a bloody dagger in my chest and put me in a coffin for decades," Rebekah snapped. "The least you can do is buy me some new clothes."

Klaus sighed heavily.

"She's right, Nik," Erika agreed. "It's the least you can do after stabbing her in the back."

"I stabbed her in the chest," Klaus corrected, closing the book he was reading. "But fine, if it'll make you both stop talking, we'll go on a bloody shopping spree."

　
━━━━━━
　

ERIKA WOKE UP THE NEXT morning to Rebekah hogging most of the comforter. She had been surprised that her sister-in-law even fell asleep in the first place after being daggered for so long, but she didn't say anything about it at the time and had just lifted the blanket and let Rebekah climb into bed beside her at some point during the night.

After satisfying her cravings with a small glass of blood from one of the bags she had stored in the refrigerator and offering Stefan something for breakfast, Erika hopped a quick shower and got ready for the day before letting Rebekah borrow some clothes to wear.

They all left the apartment sometime before nine in the morning, and after Rebekah got her hair styled at a salon, they made their way toward one of Erika's personal favourite clothing stores in Chicago so that the blonde vampire could get herself something new to wear.

While Rebekah tried on one of the many dresses that Erika had picked out for her behind the curtain of a private dressing room, the three of them found themselves sitting on some expensive leather chairs and sipping on some champagne.

"There has to be more to this dress."

Erika chuckled quietly and took another sip of champagne.

"There's not," Klaus told his sister.

Rebekah emerged from the dressing room and immediately walked up the body-length mirror. "So women in the twenty-first century dress like prostitutes, then. You know, I got dirty looks for wearing trousers."

"Honestly," Erika agreed with a scoff. "I mean, what did they expect us to wear when we were riding horseback? I'd like to see a man sitting side-saddle in a dress and corset. It's not as easy as it looks."

"Oh, yes, how dreadful that must have been for you both," Klaus said, his tone drenched with sarcasm. "But you two wore trousers so women today could wear nothing."

"And what is this music?" Rebekah complained. "It sounds like a cable car accident."

"It's dance music," Stefan told her.

Rebekah raised a brow. "People dance to this?"

Stefan nodded, humming in response.

"If you think this music is bad, wait until you go to your first club," Erika said. "The music is so loud that you'll want to rip your ears right off, and the migraine is worse than a bloody hangover."

"Are we done?" Klaus asked with an impatient smile and a bored expression.

"You daggered her for centuries, Nik, she can get as many outfits as she wants," Erika told him. "So sit there, drink your champagne, and shut your mouth for once in your life."

"Why are you so grumpy, Nik?" Rebekah asked, stepping closer and reaching down to take a sip from Erika's champagne glass.

"I needed one thing from you for my witch to find out why my hybrids are dying, one thing. Your necklace. And you lost it."

"I didn't lose it. It's just been missing for ninety years," Rebekah corrected, before smoothing her hands over the skirt of the dress and giving a small twirl. "So what do you think?"

"You look stunning as always, Bekah," Erika said with a smile. "That dress really brings out your eyes."

Rebekah beamed at her sister-in-law and then looked at the man she had loved in the twenties, wanting his opinion. "Stefan?"

"I like it," Stefan complimented.

His response left Rebekah frowning, and both Erika and Klaus closed their eyes and sighed, knowing that the young vampire had chosen his words poorly.

"What?" Stefan said innocently, noticing the expressions on their faces. "I said I like it."

"I can always tell when you're lying, Stefan," Rebekah told him, before turning on her heel and disappearing into the dress room.

"Nice one. Good work," Klaus said.

"You're the one that pulled the dagger out of her," Stefan retorted.

"I heard that!" Rebekah shouted from beyond the closed curtain.

Erika leaned over Klaus so she could talk to Stefan. "Little tip, Salvatore, when a girl asks how she looks in a dress, you're supposed to say she looks good."

"Especially when said girl is my sister."

Once more, Rebekah spoke from behind the curtain, saying, "It's almost as though you people have forgotten that I have ears."

Erika chuckled quietly, before bringing her champagne glass to her lips and taking a sip of the bubbly beverage.

It wasn't much later when Stefan announced that he was going to get some fresh air. He left the store, clearly not interested in waiting around for the blonde vampire to pick out some new clothes. This left Erika and Klaus to stay behind and drink some more expensive champagne as they complimented Rebekah's many outfits she tried on.

　
━━━━━━
　

IT TOOK ANOTHER HOUR AT the clothing store until Rebekah finally found some outfits that she liked. Afterwards, they made their way toward Gloria's Bar so that Klaus could finally get the answers he was desperate to have.

Erika and Rebekah were sitting at the bar and talking while Gloria sat at a table not far away from them, her hands floating above a massive tome on a table that was covered with lit candles.

"So am I ever going to hear about what happened between you and Stefan?" Erika asked.

Rebekah smirked. "I was wondering when you were going to ask."

"Well, I figured it was better to ask when he was gone so that it wasn't too awkward."

The blonde's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it's been a while since you were both together, and Stefan may have mentioned to me yesterday that Klaus killed his girlfriend," Erika explained. "I didn't exactly want to be insensitive by bringing up your relationship when he was in the room and still grieving for another woman."

"He has a girlfriend?" Rebekah frowned.

"Had a girlfriend," Erika corrected. "Klaus killed her. He sacrificed her on an altar of fire or something. I don't really know all the details yet."

Rebekah looked away, a saddened look in her eyes. Erika could tell that she was disappointed to find out that the man she had loved in the twenties moved on from her. She was obviously hoping to rekindle that relationship.

"Anyway, you and Stefan!" Erika said excitedly, trying to steer the subject away from the Salvatore's dead girlfriend. "Tell me everything and don't leave anything out."

"We met at this bar, actually. Gloria was a singer here and she had a beautiful voice. Nik would come here to drink, but I came here for the music really," Rebekah began. "Anyway, there were these men at the bar being obnoxiously loud one night, so I told them to quiet down. Stefan was one of them, and when I noticed that he had some blood on his mouth from a recent feeding, I simply couldn't help myself."

Erika shook her head, amusement dancing in her eyes. Her sister-in-law had done that move on one of her vampire lovers before. Many times, in fact. She had even dared her to do that move on Elijah once to see what his reaction would be.

"You didn't," she chuckled.

"I did," Rebekah smirked.

"God, you're such a tease."

"We danced the next night," Rebekah said, smiling as she remembered all the time she had spent with Stefan Salvatore. "And almost every night after that. It was the best I had felt in a long time."

A gentle smile tugged at Erika's lips as she stared at her sister-in-law. She could tell by the look in Rebekah's eyes and the smile on the blonde's face that she had truly loved Stefan Salvatore. That the two of them could have had someone beautiful together if it hadn't been for Mikael and Klaus getting in their way.

"Stefan met Nik after a while and the two of them became friends," Rebekah went on. "I actually believed that he was going to be the one man my brother deemed worthy enough to love me. But when I told Nik that I wanted to stay in Chicago with Stefan, he put that bloody dagger in me."

The door to the bar opened up and Stefan walked in, causing Erika to nod her head in his direction. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Rebekah swiveled around on her stool to look at her former lover. "You left us."

"Yeah, sorry," Stefan apologized. "Retail therapy was making my head explode."

"Tell me about it," Klaus muttered, before drowning a glass of bourbon.

"What's she doing?" Stefan asked, glancing at Gloria. The witch had her eyes closed as she attempted to do a spell.

"She's failing," Klaus told him, loud enough for the witch to hear.

"How about you lay off the woman and let her focus?" Erika suggested, flashing her brother-in-law a warning smile to behave.

Gloria opened her eyes and looked at them. "Thank you, Erika. It's hard to find something when you don't have anything to go on, you know."

"So use me," Rebekah suggested, sliding off the barstool and walking towards the witch. "I only wore it for a thousand years."

"See? Now this one offers a solution." Gloria held out her hand toward the blonde vampire as Rebekah sat down on the table near some of the candles she had lit. "All right, give me your hand, sweetheart."

"She's, uh, she's looking for the necklace, huh?" Stefan asked.

Erika nodded. "Yeah, but she hasn't had much luck yet."

"I can sense something," Gloria said, her eyes closed and hand holding Rebekah's. She then began muttering the words of a spell. "Anta Cotis Syrum, Anta Cotis Syrum . . ."

Everyone watched in anticipation as Gloria continued chanting the spell. They had long since left their barstools and were standing with their arms crossed over their chests, waiting for something to happen.

A few moments passed before Gloria suddenly dropped the blonde's hand and turned to look at Erika, Klaus and Stefan were sitting. "I found it."

Rebekah perked up. "So where is it?"

"It doesn't work like that, doll," Gloria told her. "I get images. There's a girl with her friends . . ."

"Yes, a dead girl with dead friends, if I don't get my necklace back."

"Rebekah, I'm sure it was a misunderstanding," Erika said calmly. "Let's not get carried away, okay?"

The blonde looked at her sister-in-law, and Erika could see the fire burning in her eyes. "They have my necklace, Erika. I don't care what happens to them as long as I get back what rightfully belongs to me."

Erika sighed at her words, before looking at the witch. "Did you see anything else?"

"I'll have to dive back in to get the details," Gloria replied.

Klaus walked over, leaning down against the table that the witch was sitting at. "So dive."

"I need more time." Gloria waved the original hybrid away from her with her hands. "And space. You're harshing my ju-ju."

"We can wait."

"I'm sure you can," Gloria said, turning to look at Klaus with a slightly irritated expression. "But that's not what I asked."

"Hey, you know, why don't we just come back later," Stefan suggested, before anything could happen, for he could tell that Klaus was right there on the edge. "I'm hungry anyway. I'll let you pick who we eat."

Erika quickly nodded her head in agreement, knowing that if they didn't leave, Klaus would get even more annoyed by how long it was taking and act out. After all, he had never been a very patient person. "Wonderful idea, Stefan. Come along, let's leave Gloria alone so that she can focus on her spells."

Klaus hesitated, staring at his little sister for a moment and then back at the witch, before pushing away from the table and following Erika and Stefan out the door, with Rebekah hot on his heels.

　
━━━━━━
　

THEY HAD GONE BACK TO THE warehouse to satisfy their hunger. Klaus was sitting on a couch, drinking from a pretty girl's neck and Stefan was doing likewise from a chair not far away from him. Rebekah was sitting on top of a nearby crate and Erika was standing as far away from them as she could, an uncomfortable expression plastered across her face as she watched the three of them drink from innocent humans they had randomly picked up off the street and compelled.

Erika might be a vampire, but she didn't like drinking from the vein. She hated causing people pain and was afraid of killing them if she got out of control. It was Elijah that always got blood for her back in the day. Her husband understood how she felt and never wanted her to be uncomfortable, so he always put some blood in a cup when she was hungry so that she could drink it like wine instead and so she didn't have to sink her teeth into an innocent human. It was one of the many, many reasons why she loved him. But nowadays, she just visits a blood bank and takes a couple bags off their hands, storing them in her refrigerator for when she needs to satisfy her cravings.

Suddenly, Rebekah dropped the dead body to the ground and reached up to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth. "My girl's dead. I'm bored."

Klaus withdrew his fangs from the girl's neck and looked at Stefan. "You weren't kidding about being hungry."

"Yeah. It's been a long day."

Klaus laughed while glancing briefly at his sister. "Try being related to her."

"Nik," Erika scolded lightly, glaring at him from across the room.

Rebekah frowned as she watched the two men laugh together. "You're being mean," she said to her brother, before glancing at Stefan. "And why are you being mean? You used to love me."

"It's been ninety years, Rebekah." Klaus rolled his eyes. "Give him a minute."

"Why are you taking his side?"

"Because, my dear sister, I feel pity for any man who doesn't give you what you want."

Erika's eyes widened. "Nik!"

"Will you stop making me out to be a brat? I am not a brat!"

"A thousand years of life experience says otherwise," Klaus retorted.

Erika scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Oh, like you have any room to judge someone's behaviour over the course of a thousand years?

"Yeah, you're no picnic, either," Stefan agreed, glancing at the original hybrid. "I mean, I've only spent one summer with you and I feel like I want to blow my head off."

The two women burst into laughter.

"Fantastic," Rebekah grinned.

"I'm starting to like you, Salvatore," Erika smirked.

Klaus rolled his eyes.

Stefan dropped the dead girl he was feeding from onto the ground, before getting up from the chair and leaving the warehouse in a hurry. "I need to go."

Once the younger vampire was gone, Erika turned to look at her family with furrowed brows and a confused look in her eye. "Well, that was weird."

"Where's he going?" Rebekah asked.

"To write a name on a wall," Klaus said, and when they looked at him in confusion, he sighed. "It's a long story."

The two Mikaelson women exchanged confused looks with each other, curious about why Stefan had to leave to write a name on a wall and why it was apparently such a long story. But they just shrugged it off and started talking about something else.

　
━━━━━━
　

KLAUS HAD FILLED BOTH Erika and Rebekah in on everything that happened recently after Stefan Salvatore had left. He told them all about his time in Mystic Falls and how he found the new doppelgänger named Elena Gilbert and used her in the sacrifice. He explained that he was able to activate his werewolf gene, becoming the very first hybrid, and that he was in wolf form for two days. Then, he went on to say what happened between him and Stefan, and why Damon Salvatore had showed up yesterday, demanding to get his little brother back.

Needless to say, Erika was pretty shocked to find out what happened since she had left. The woman had wanted to know more about Elijah's time in Mystic Falls, but decided against it and instead reluctantly joined her brother-in-law at Gloria's Bar to check up on the witch while Rebekah stayed back at the warehouse to wait for Stefan to return.

When they arrived at the bar, they found the entire place empty. It was obvious Gloria had performed some sort of spell, but they couldn't figure out what it was that she had done. What they did know, however, was that the witch was gone. Klaus was upset when they couldn't her anywhere. He had thrown a table or two, but after Erika got him to calm down, they began making their way back to the warehouse to regroup with the others.

Arriving inside the warehouse, they found Rebekah and Stefan standing at close proximity with each other, and Erika's eyebrows shot up as she looked at them suspiciously. "Uh, sorry, are we interrupting something here?"

Stefan stepped away from Rebekah, clearing his throat and speaking quickly. "No."

Erika narrowed her eyes at the younger vampire, and when he quickly avoided her gaze, she knew that he was lying. Something most definitely happened between them. "Okay then," she said, deciding now to pry since they had more important things to worry about. "Well, we didn't find anything at the bar. The witch wasn't even there."

Rebekah's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Gloria is gone. She cleared out," Klaus explained. "We need to find a new witch immediately." He stopped and looked at them with narrowed eyes, sensing the tension between them, and Stefan quickly avoided eye contact. "What's going on?"

"Something's wrong," Rebekah told her brother. "He was asking about Mikael. He's not with us, Nik. I can sense it."

Stefan immediately looked at Klaus with wide eyes, and he began shaking his head. "She's wrong. Klaus . . ."

Klaus cut the younger vampire off mid-sentence by rushing over to him and snapping his neck.

Erika watched as Stefan's body hit the floor with a thud, and she looked at her brother-in-law with a raised brow. "Was that really necessary?"

Klaus ignored her as he turned to face his younger sister. "What else did Stefan say?"

"He only asked who we were running from when we met," Rebekah explained.

"How does he even know about Mikael anyway?" Erika asked. "Because you told me that Stefan didn't know anything about us and that he's only been traveling with you for the summer."

"I'm not sure," Klaus replied.

"I could sense something about him before you both arrived," Rebekah said, telling her family more about what happened between them while they were gone. She glanced down at her lover's limp body. "Stefan is holding onto something, I can feel it."

"What do you mean?" Erika asked.

"Stefan doesn't love me anymore, that much was obvious from his kiss."

Erika's eyes widened. "He kissed you? I knew something had happened the moment we walked into the room!"

Rebekah nodded, confirming that the kiss indeed happened. "He tried to play me to get information about Mikael."

"Pack your bags," Klaus told them with flared nostrils, "we're leaving immediately."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

Rebekah's head snapped over to her sister-in-law and she frowned. "Why the bloody hell not?"

"Because your brother is an ass and I don't want to go anywhere with him."

"And so you're just going to leave me to deal with him alone?" Rebekah shook her head. "Uh-uh, you're coming with us even if I have to drag you by the hair as you kick and scream."

Erika groaned. "Ugh, fine. But where are we even going anyway?"

"Well, if Rebekah is right about Stefan holding onto something, then we're only going to find answers in one place."

"Yeah, and where's that?" Erika asked.

"A little town called Mystic Falls."

a/n: erika is finally heading to mystic falls, y'all! are you as excited as I am for our girl to interact with everyone??