I woke up to the sun shining directly into my eyes. Nicholas entered the room with a large breakfast tray.
He introduced himself to me: "Hi, my name is Nicholas Michaelson, and this is my brother Elias Michaelson, and yes, the TV show, The Originals is based on us. Good morning, Luv. Today, we could talk about you. Who are you, and how did you get here? Why did you want to kill me? We think you've been brainwashed, so no hard feelings. We reversed the programming, so you should feel more like yourself now."
I replied in amazement, "Yes, I do feel more like myself. My name is Krista Saarnio, and I'm from Finland. I was kidnapped from my house, and it was the 13th of May. And I have no idea why or by whom. All I remember before I woke up in that hotel room was being dragged out of that damn cage in that damn van, tied to a stretcher. Cannulated and anesthetized with some kind of drug. I think we were in Helsinki at the time."
I found I was hungry, so I thanked the breakfast tray and eagerly went to eat. After breakfast, I chatted with both of them and told them what I remembered. Then I went to the bathroom. Did my business and then looked in the mirror while I washed my hands.
In the mirror, a stranger looked back. I was skinny at first, skinny as hell. I had no breasts really at all, and I used to have very large breasts. My face was foreign. I had a narrower face. My eyes were perhaps the only ones I recognized. My mouth was fuller, my cheekbones more pronounced, my chin narrower, and my neck longer and more slender.
I looked much younger, almost a teenager, and I was over 60. Well, it's good to have a makeover, but it was a pretty damn radical change. No one would recognize me. I didn't have a trace of a family face on me. Not a drop.
I came out of the bathroom and said, "Where am I? I mean, what country, what city? I know for sure I'm not in Finland, but where?"
But I was surprised to find that I was in America, in New Orleans. Four months had passed, nine weeks of which I had spent with them.
Elias said, " It has been some time now. It is the 12th of September, so you probably have to come to terms with that. And I guess you don't look the same as you did."
I wondered how he knew that, but yeah, I didn't look like myself, and that would add another complication as I wouldn't match my ID card, and who would believe I was over 60 when I looked like a bloody teenager?
I thought great; I need to go to the Finnish Embassy and go back to Finland. I told the men my intentions. They looked at each other, and Elias then brought me some Finnish language magazines. His expression was serious and calm, but somehow apologetic.
"Thank you," I replied and started reading.
I was shocked, so there was no going back to my own life when I read this article about a fire in Kymenlaakso, just seven kilometers from the Russian border, where a woman was killed when an old house burnt down. That woman was me. Krista Saarnio was dead and buried, and I realized that that was the end of my life, and now I would have to start all over again.
Three times, I read an article saying that I died when my house burned down. "Seriously, is this true? "
The article had an interview with the landlord and a brief statement that it was an accident, and I died from the smoke and fumes long before the flames got to a hold of me. Everything about my life up to that point was destroyed in that fire. My memories, things were still alive in my memories.
"I'm afraid it is, Luv," Nicholas replied.
I was a little shocked by all the new stuff and, perhaps most of all, that the brothers were vampires. They explained vampires had always existed, and some came out now and then. Stories and books were based on vampires who had told people about themselves but made them forget themselves, only leaving behind these people as inspiration for books, movies, and TV series.
They let the vampires be hidden but still have some contact with humans, and all this popular culture around vampires was superb entertainment for them. They made up all sorts of rumors, like sleeping in a coffin or sunlight, making them real fantasy characters. Also, the fact that they were undead, Pale, and Cold-blooded was a nice rumor to make up.
Nick resembled an actor from the series in parts, but perhaps a better description was that the result could be pretty close if Joseph Morgan, Richard Dean Anderson, and Michael Shanks were put together.
Elias was again a combination of Robert Urich, Daniel Gilles, and Giles Marin, so they looked different from the show, but there were similarities. Nick loved to paint, and Elias always wore a suit. He spoke in a refined, elegant way, while Nick spoke with an English accent, with an old-fashioned inflection, and somehow his long existence came through in his speech.
I got to know both vampires; they were actually quite funny guys, and we talked about TV shows. And they said that the show about them was as funny as it was and maybe at first their sisters, Freya and Rebecca, weren't as nice as the show implied. Their other brothers, Cole and Fin, were also very naughty.
Nicholas, though, said he was naughtier than the series implied. Freya, for example, didn't know whether she was a bird or a fish, so to speak, or whether she liked girls or boys, or whether she was just using sex as a tool to get stronger. Rebekah was another pansy who decided to love someone at one moment, but was in the mood to be a spoiled little girl or a vengeful slut at another.
Elias said, " Both my sisters are sadly weak-minded, fickle, and then they use their bodies to get men."
He spoke in a disapproving tone.
He has done far worse, that is, if he said he is not nearly as noble as the series makes him out to be. Nick is not again the power-hungry what the series said. Just because Cole and Finn were portrayed as victims in the series does not make his brothers more human or better; they are not bloodthirsty.
Finn and Cole are now living with their spouses, and Cole with Davina and Finn. Well, he likes boys, and Matt Donovan was a very good boyfriend to him. Elias and Nick don't want to drink blood or mutilate people, not only because they are so old and they are the first, or because they have been told they are the first and that they don't care so much about the moral code. They have their own ways, their own habits.
The boys gave me a room, a laptop, and a credit card if I wanted to get something. But first, I wanted to see if I could get even part of my old life back. My Facebook page was a memorial page, and there were pictures of funerals and of a stone with a plaque on it for me, too.
It was my grandmother's grave, and there were my mother's ashes buried there, my sister's ashes, and now my ashes too. Basically, my whole side of the family, everyone who was alive, believed I was dead—no coming back. None of my emails worked. I couldn't find my old stories online.
My nickname didn't give any hits, and Nick theorized that whoever kidnapped me wanted to erase my existence as thoroughly as possible. He suspected they might try to grab me again because mere attempted murder was not enough motivation for such a large-scale erasure. I would just have to learn about my new life.
First, I had to come up with a new name for myself, and somehow, I just said, "Mimi Springcove,"
That was Mimi kevätlahti in Finnish, and my last name was Springcove; well, it was an inside joke that only I knew. My sister would have got it, but cancer took her a few decades ago.
One night, I asked, "Tell me a story, some story, a rumor going around, some story about some legend that happens to be going around among the vampires. I'm curious. I can then tell you something about my life. My life wasn't that amazing."
Nicholas and Elias looked at each other for a moment, and Nicholas spoke.
"All right, I'll tell you then. This is a story that almost every vampire has heard at one time or another. No one knows if it's true at all, or just a fairy tale meant to make vampires wonder. But I'll tell it, anyway."
He paused, to think how to tell the story, or then it was supposed to be told a certain way.
"A long time ago, there was a strong witch, a strong wizard, a married couple, and they had children, twin boys. This family had such strong magical power that their pack or coven always had to have ten. This power always had to be divided among the ten. Otherwise, it was corrupted. The power caused bad harvests, pestilence, and accidents if it was not controlled by ten."
His voice was nice to listen to, and he was a good storyteller.
" The witch and the wizard were, shall we say, morally ambiguous. i.e. black. Evil. But they saw themselves only as strong, good, and evil, well evil was strong, and goodness was weakness according to them. Empathy, caring, love, all these were weaknesses they frowned upon greatly. "
He looked at me and I was almost transported into the deep past, some hut where the nefarious couple had children.
"The twin boys were immediately very important to them, especially the firstborn, who had a clear purpose, to worship his parents, This boy had a clear evil, black power, and the twins immediately saw the baby as strong, not evil, but strong and very important to them—the perfect heir. The boy was already strong from an early age and did not question his parents about what they decided or commanded, no matter what it was, even killing a kitten..."
He sighed and continued. The story was interesting as to how a child can be bad. Aren't children born innocent and corrupted by time?
"The boys were only a few minutes apart, but the younger one was nobler. He was clearly good, and the parents saw him as weak, not important, and not worthy of being their heir. He had a clear moral compass, so his parents considered him weaker and inferior to his older brother. They did not consider the boy strong enough to be worthy of even magical powers. And the boy never obeyed and did anything bad. He didn't kill kittens, but helped them, stroked them, and played with them. This child was curious and explored everything. He had to know everything, how everything worked, and he just didn't obey his parents directly. "
Nick kept these brief pauses, almost as if trying to recall this story. I guess there were many versions of it and he was trying to tell the right one.
"The younger boy showed no interest or ability in magic. Then the family faced tragedy, or the parents saw it as a tragedy. The older son fell ill with an epidemic or something similar and eventually died. At that time, there were epidemics all the time. The parents were grief-stricken. But supposedly, the parents made a secret rite, a secret magic, and united the boys. The older dying boy was put inside, the younger one. Hoping one day the older son would take power and gain his parents' strength. They now taught this combined child, trying to show the naughty side how to stay afloat and how to weaken the good side again."
His voice almost whispered and in my mind, I could imagine a cold chamber, little boys lying next to each other, some chanting...I had a good imagination.
"And since the boys were now just one being, the parents hoped they would no longer need ten to control the powers. They believed that as the wicked side grew, he would eat the soul of the good side, strengthen himself, and grow into the strongest and blackest wizard of all time, stronger even than the original wizards. They are the very first wizards, and they are not nice, but the universe is in balance, and that is why there are original witches, and they are good then. Good and evil, always in balance."
Nicholas looked at me for a moment and said: "I don't know if that's true, I don't know. This story has been told for a long time, and it always changes where it happens. This is a story, and now I'm not sure if this story is the inspiration for the Gemini coven that appears on that TV show. The Gemini coven exists. It just works differently than the show. So there are always many children born into a family, and two will unite, but not to defeat each other, just to unite to protect their family from their siblings. Unification is always a decision for both, and it's a beautiful thing—a beautiful event. No one will ever say if this story is true or fable. But there is always more or less truth in every story. But if it ever comes out, you never know."
Elias said: "There's a bit more to this story, which made it very interesting."
I asked, "What else is in the story? What makes it more interesting, I mean, the story is pretty damn interesting. I could already imagine a character like this, sometimes kind and helpful and then cruel and immoral."
Elias said: "Rumour has it that this younger boy became a vampire and strong. Now I don't know if that rumor was just added to explain the dichotomy of vampires. I mean, we can kill a human just like that, think of it as a meal, but then again, we can protect and help those we want to. "
Elias looked into the distance for a moment and said: "I don't really know if this is true or if it's true at all. Witches and wizards have always existed, but if a witch and a wizard have children, that child becomes a vampire. In the series, a vampire can't be a witch or a wizard, but in reality, it's different. It's always worth remembering that. A vampire can be a witch and a wizard. One ancient vampire wizard is a boy called Wulfe. He looks like a teenager, but he's really strong and old, so looks can be deceiving. It's worth remembering that. "
Nick said, "One more thing about that story was that the parents wanted this stronger boy to eventually marry a sorceress because a sorceress is almost always evil, whereas witches are from white, pure, good witches to black, evil witches. So a witch can be good or evil or whatever. All shades of grey will do, but a sorceress is always evil. There aren't many sorceresses. Personally, I've tried to kill everyone I know, but there may still be some left over. "
A few weeks had passed as I started to get more fit and even went to the shops or outdoors with my brothers. I always had two bodyguards outside. I told them about my life, my cats, my dogs, and everything I had been through, and they listened, enjoyed, and laughed.
Nick said, "We can't have cats and dogs, not really any animals, because a vampire is a creature that an animal can sense and is afraid of. Even a little kitten or a puppy is always afraid of us. But your stories, you tell them so well, and they are something new to us again. We are ancient, and sometimes the millennia weigh on us, but your stories shake the years off my shoulders, and I feel younger."
They promised to get me papers, an apartment, and some kind of cash allowance so I wouldn't have to look for a job right away. Neither of them had ever hinted that they would even consider making me a vampire because the vampire life is not always so glamorous, and they saw me as an innocent, pure soul.
One night, I realized I was out of milk and agreed to get a can from a nearby kiosk. This was not a strange thing to do. I had been to the kiosk myself before. They had vampires patrolling the neighborhood and watching for rumors at all times.
Nicholas said: "Come back soon, little one. Our favorite movies are about to start."
I told the boys I really liked the Marvel movies, and we had watched them several nights already. We also reviewed other movies, and oh, how they sometimes had good looks on their faces when I gave feedback and harshly criticized a scene or movie. Our movie night would start as soon as I got some milk and some other goodies. I was hoping to do some baking or cooking in between. I hadn't figured out where I was going to start my new life. I'd lived with the boys for two months since I'd woken up. Christmas was coming up, too.
I put on my shoes, put on my jacket and went out. I was on my way to the kiosk, in my own thoughts, wondering if the boys would even celebrate Christmas. I hadn't asked Nick about Hope, Haley, or Camille because I sensed he didn't want to talk about it.
I wasn't watching my surroundings and didn't see the van pull up. Three men got out and grabbed me, and I felt a sting in my neck, and darkness took over my mind. I didn't even feel my legs buckle as I was already unconscious. In the alley behind me were three vampires being killed, Nick's people who were supposed to keep me safe. I was loaded into a car, and the car sped away, leaving no trace.