MOONS.
015. | ❛ i see why nik is so taken with you. ❜

Aurora, who is driving in a black town car, has just pulled into the small parking lot behind St. Anne's Church. Once she's parked, she gets out of the vehicle and walks around until she reaches the trunk, which she opens to find Luna just as she left her the previous night-- seemingly unconscious with a blood-crusted bite wound on her neck. Aurora smiles at the sight of her.

"Aw, poor dear! Still sleeping. Well, you have a big day ahead of you. We should get started." Aurora smiles even wider and bends over to pick Luna up out of the trunk. However, before she can even begin to lift her up, Luna reveals that she has been awake all along by quickly opening her eyes and grabbing the crowbar laying next to her before whacking Aurora upside the face with it. Aurora shouts in pain as Luna takes advantage of her distraction and tries to run away.

"Ahh!" Luna runs as fast as she can in the opposite direction of Aurora, but the ancient vampire catches up to her easily and blocks her way, glaring at her in annoyance as she does so.

"That was not nice." Luna's eyes widen, and she appears to be so scared that she simply freezes in place.

"Okay, you and I need to have a little heart-to-heart conversation. Come along." Aurora grabs her by the arm and drags her into the back entrance to the church. Once inside, they find at least a half-dozen men working out in Marcel's fight gym. One is lifting weights at the bench press while another man spots him, and two other men are sparring inside the cage. Luna looks terrified as Aurora continues to drag her toward the equipment.

"What-what are we doing here?"

"I heard a rumor these men train here, hoping to be made into vampires. So, I'm going to grant them their wish."

Aurora shoves Luna forward, and Luna quickly turns to face her with a pleading expression.

"Klaus and I are having just a little bit of a spat at the moment, as he took my brother captive. Now, it's come to my attention that you are... still quite precious to him." Aurora laughs bitterly and takes a good look at Luna's appearance.

"So, I'm taking you. And these "lovely, delicious, delightful" specimens are going to provide incentive!"

Aurora looks over at the men sparring in the ring before turning back to Luna.

"Once they're in transition, they'll need to feed." Aurora circles around Luna and brushes Luna's hair off of her shoulders to reveal her neck.

"I'm just a hybrid, I can't provide any human blood."

"I know that darling but vampires in transition are very hungry and powerful. Well, Nik had better give me what I want," Aurora then grabs Luna by her hair and shoves her so hard she collapses onto the ground. She then raises her voice to call out to all of the men working out in the gym.

"Gentlemen! Come down! Quick, quick. Off you pop!" Aurora claps her hands for emphasis, and the men reluctantly gather around her, though it's clear they're wary of what she wants.

"Thank you!" Luna starts to pull herself into a seated position and watches as Aurora turns to the two shirtless men at the bench press, who stand to join the others.

"Hello! You, too! Congratulations. You have all been selected to receive the highest honor bestowed upon your pitiful species." Luna looks at Aurora in horror.

"Don't do this!" Aurora looks around at the men for a moment until she finally stops at a blond man standing near her. She bites her lips in excitement as she vamp-speeds over to him, bites into her wrist, and feeds him her blood. As soon as she's sure he's ingested enough, she snaps his neck without any warning, causing Luna to flinch before she drops his body onto the ground. Aurora then looks at the other men with blood staining her lips and teeth.

"Next?"

All of Marcel's potential vampire recruits are now laying dead on the floor, their bodies sprawled all over the gym and their mouths smeared with Aurora's blood. Luna is standing in the middle of the carnage while Aurora looks at her curiously.

"It's odd that you were his girlfriend. And weren't you left here as a baby? Isn't it true that you and Klaus met right here?"

"Yeah... It was more of a small glimpse. "

Aurora smiles as she strips off her jacket, and Luna continues to stand with her arms crossed over her chest, visibly tense with this situation.

"Glimpse, it's such an odd word."

Despite Aurora's motives, she seems genuinely interested in hearing what Luna has to say.

"Tell me- what drew you to Niklaus?"

"His eyes." She confessed

"New Orleans hasn't been much luck to your family?" Luna eyes widen

"You know about my family."

"I confess... When I first heard your name, I was intrigued. Nik cares for so few people, so I looked you up. The internet, it is such a marvel. I learned all about your storied past." Aurora starts to walk toward Luna, who looks pale from bloodloss and is clearly miserable as a result of these reminders of her history.

"Daddy goes mad and kills mother then leaves two babies at the steps on a Church. Brother also goes mad and tries to drown her sister. Wow." Luna's expression has gone from nervous to angry at this statement and loses her temper.

"Are you enjoying this?" Aurora smiles brightly and nods her head in agreement.

"Bringing up the tragedies of my life? Do you get off on being cruel?"

"Maybe I'm looking for the ways in which we are alike." Aurora walks away from her so she can sit down on the nearby bench press.

"See, Nik's been obsessed with me for centuries, and now he's infatuated with you. What do you think the overlap is between us?"
Luna, even more uncomfortable now, cannot bring herself to look Aurora in the eyes.

"Is it... crazy brothers? Yours was quite mad, and mine? Well... Tristan. I love him, but he can be a bit daft sometimes. You know, he likes to have me committed every so often? Hoping to cure my more... eccentric predispositions. Thanks to him, I've been plunged into ice baths, bled for meloncholia, and exorcised for demons five-- no, six-- six times."
Luna looks surprised that Aurora is telling her this.

"And my latest diagnosis is bipolar disorder. I imagine with your credentials, you're familiar with it."

"And there have been great strides in--" Aurora, annoyed, stands to her feet and cuts Luna off before standing so they're face-to-face.

"Shut up, Luna! I prefer not to be condescended to .
Luna looks at her in confusion, and Aurora starts to pace around again as she talks.

"Now, tell me a bit more about you, starting with how you feel about Nik. And do bear in mind-- I'm a stickler for honesty."
Luna, worried about her safety, gulps nervously and looks down at the floor.

******************

"Hahaha! You really said that to him?" Aurora adopts a mocking tone of voice.

" 'People are not awful. They want to be good.' Wow! A bit saccharine, no?"

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend?"

"You feeling jealous? It seems as though you are, and yet you and Nik are not lovers anymore."

"We're not romantically involved, no. But I do care about him."

Aurora shrugs as though she doesn't understand, so Luna continues to explain.

"I see that he wants to be more than what he is, and I don't think you would do much to help him get there."

"You see the good in Nik. Tell me, are you the one to bring it out of him? The frail, little human that he has manipulated, abused, compelled, and turned to be everything from stenographer to spy and then hybrid?" Aurora stands to her feet and walks toward Luna with a smile.

"He doesn't care about you, darling. You're just a thing that he uses from time to time. That's all."
Luna, not willing to back down, walks closer to Aurora and stands her ground against her.

"You can say whatever you want. I can't stop you. But I do find it interesting how angry you are. I think you're worried. If there's anything that Klaus likes about me, it's my mind, that I can understand him. And you? You are beautiful, and you are powerful, and you do have a long history together. But you're worried he doesn't love you, that maybe he does see the truth-- that your mind, it's a bit damaged, isn't it?"
Aurora becomes so furious that she backhands Luna across the face so hard that she's thrown backward into the cage.

Luna has just flipped herself over after having been thrown into the wall of the cage again, and she's panting heavily as Aurora tries her best to regain her composure, since she knows that she just revealed too much with her outburst.

"Okay. I've had enough analysis. Let's shine the light back on you, shall we? Tell me your deepest, darkest secret. And if I sense that you are holding back... Well, you might not live long enough for Nik to get here."

Aurora is standing in front of Luna and starting to lose her patience with her as Luna recovers from being thrown against the wall of the cage.

"I will not ask again. Your greatest shame. Admit it And do not bother lying, because I will know, and then I will end you."

Luna hesitates for a moment before she speaks.

"Junior year of college... I was arrested for assault, battery..."

Luna pulls herself to her feet, though it's clear she's still weak from blood loss. Aurora smiles, visibly pleased about what she's heard so far.

"Ooh, fabulous! Now that's more like it."

Aurora walks over to the bench press and sits down, crossing her legs daintily before looking at Luna with an expectant expression.

"Now, do go on..."

"It was... some guy. He was dating my roommate. She tried to break up with him, so he hit her. Broke her nose. I tried to get her to go to the police, the dean, anybody, but she was too scared. I hated that he was just getting away with it, like nothing ever happened. I saw him one night at a bar, hitting on a freshman..."

Aurora watches Luna curiously as the hybrid girl's voice becomes colder.

"So, I took a beer bottle, and I smashed it in his face." Aurora hisses in response to the thought of the man being hit in the face with a broken bottle.

"Oooh..." Luna continues her story in a detached tone of voice.

"The next thing I knew, I was kneeling on his chest and pounding his head on the floor. And by the time the pulled me off of him... Well, he wasn't laughing. Thus triggering my werewolf curse. " Aurora studies Luna's demeanor for a moment, trying to determine if she's lying and analyzing her feelings on the matter.

"You're not ashamed that you did it."Luna blushes in embarrassment, which makes Aurora chuckle in satisfaction that her suspicions were correct.

"Huh. You're ashamed that you enjoyed it." Aurora stands to her feet and walks over to a very uncomfortable Luna so they're face-to-face.

"Your trying to understand your own dark impulses." Luna tries her best to change the subject.

"Ha! Well, I see why Nik is so taken with you. The trouble is... my burgeoning respect for you is overshadowed by my somewhat puerile jealousy. So, I suppose we've reached the inevitable..."
Aurora raises her voice louder as though she's calling out to someone.