06 | Chasing Tales

𝐈𝐅 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 deeply intrigued by the turn of events, it would be Dakota Grant herself—though, she would never admit it to Klaus; she'd never hear the end of it. To her defense, it wasn't everyday she got to witness four coffins that contained a whole vampire family get stolen for revenge, and at the same time, the concept of revenge interested her now more than ever with Klaus's stories about Mary and Kol's almost never-ending petty exchanges.

In fact, the latest story Klaus shared with her was the one when Kol deliberately tried to expose Mary's true nature. Dakota seemed to be none the wiser that such a species of witches—siphoners—existed, but it was expected of her given she just recently entered the darker world. One where no one was what they seem. They could either be a vampire, a werewolf, a witch, a doppelgänger, or a hybrid. At least, those are the only supernatural creatures Dakota had heard of so far. It wouldn't be much of a surprise to her if there were more.

Dakota was walking down the halls of her high school. She had been back after Klaus finally loosened his grip over her. Normally, being in the school was what frustrated her the most. However, the mere whiff of the school's aura was a breath of fresh air to the redhead. The school was her token of normalcy in the midst of a sea of abnormality. She appreciated Klaus letting her hold on to at least one sane thing in her life. Though, the others might not have appreciated the fact that they tried to rescue her and ended up failing because she chose to keep the original hybrid's company. But they'd never understand her even if she shared her reasons.

Besides, it's Caroline's birthday. They would put a halt in their plotting and scheming in respect for her, right?

Dakota stopped walking when her brown eyes caught a glimpse of Elena and Bonnie decorating a certain locker, Caroline's locker. It had been a while since Dakota had talked to them, or any of her friends–if she could still call them that. She knew of their dismay toward her. But they tried to rescue her too late. Klaus already had his claws deep into her with stories of her ancestor. She couldn't leave not knowing the full story. How could she try to be like her when she didn't fully know her. At this point, she was just twiddling her thumbs until the day Klaus retrieved the coffins and finally woke Kol up for more stories that Klaus probably wasn't aware of.

Though, she wasn't too sure that Kol wouldn't snap her neck the minute he laid his eyes on her.

Elena met Dakota's eyes and her serious expression as she conversed with Bonnie was replaced with one that was guarded. She looked like she was barring Dakota from them. Bonnie followed her friend's gaze and saw Dakota. She, on the other hand, looked downhearted. A sad and guilty smile tugged on her lips and all Dakota could do was return the favor before deciding to keep walking. Everything had changed. They changed. She's not a part of them anymore. And slowly, Dakota was accepting that.

"Kody?" Caroline's voice snapped Dakota out of her sad yet paranoid thoughts and she halted. In front of her was her friend. Dakota felt uneasy because anyone within their range would notice the absence of Caroline's usual enthusiasm.

"Care." Dakota smiled as happily as she could. "Happy birthday."

The blonde smiled. "Thanks."

Both of them were clutching the straps of their bags, both displaying shows of discomfort and unnaturality. It was unclear who wanted to break the silence between them because it seemed that neither of them were prepared for such a conversation. Neither of them had a small talk topic under their sleeves to keep the interaction lively and not as dead silent as it was now.

"I meant to buy you something but Klaus–" Dakota stopped herself too late before she realized that Caroline wouldn't appreciate her stories with Klaus. She'd never understand. None of them would.

Caroline pushed her lips into a thin line and subtly nodded as she looked down to the ground. "It's fine. I'm...not really feeling my birthday this year."

Dakota furrowed her eyebrows. This was really a different Caroline she was talking to.

"Why not?" she asked.

The blonde met her gaze again and shrugged. "Technically, I'm dead. So..." she trailed off.

Dakota opened her mouth to say something but she was interrupted by the school bell ringing, sending the teenagers rushing to their scheduled classes.

"I'll see you around, I guess." Dakota just said, forcing another smile on her lips.

"I guess." Caroline replied, matching her smile, though this one didn't reach her eyes like normal. "I'm glad you're back in school."

Dakota simply widened her smile a little before Caroline took it upon herself to be the first to walk away. For a brief moment, she witnessed the level of despair in Caroline's eyes that was comparable to her own. She found the slightest bit of comfort that at least one of her friends mourned their friendship with her as much as she had.

• ─────────────── •

The day went by rather fast, much to Dakota's dismay. She thought she had more time to distract herself from the fact that she was now living an unnatural life. But she found solace in knowing that tomorrow was another day.

"How was school, sweetheart?" Klaus asked as soon as Dakota arrived. He seemed to be in a particularly bad mood but Dakota aimed to turn that around just for a little while.

Dakota was on her way home when she decided to take a detour and stop over at the manor Klaus was having renovated. He mentioned it was to be his and his family's home. He planned to wake his siblings when the renovation was done. It would've been a good plan if it wasn't for Stefan dumping all over it.

"Oof, don't ask me that again. You sound like a dad." Dakota grimaced as she approached him. Her gaze snapped over to the hybrid approaching them holding a bloodied fabric with something inside. Dakota still didn't know what was inside but the blood was enough to startle her. "Oh my God!"

The hybrid simply looked at her funny before addressing his sire. "What do you want me to do with her head?"

"Just get rid of it. Burn it. I honestly don't care, Daniel." Klaus answered and the hybrid, Daniel, followed his order right away.

Dakota did not bother to take a second look at what Daniel was holding before she raised her eyebrows in question at Klaus. "Whose head was that?"

"One of my hybrids. Stefan paid a visit earlier and decapitated her. Like it's not enough that he already has my family." Klaus answered.

No wonder he's in a bad mood, Dakota thought. She noticed that Klaus didn't want to talk more about it, at least not with her. So she instead tried to change the topic as she looked around the house, finding another topic suitable for a conversation with the original hybrid. Her brown eyes caught a glimpse of an old book sitting atop the rather crowded and dusty table.

"What's that?" Dakota nodded towards the book. It looked ancient. The cover was made of soft brown leather. The pages were tanned and the edges were deckled. She was far from it but she could already feel the pages crisp against her fingertips. Suddenly it was a craving to touch the pages of the book. She'd always had a thing for old books.

"This is the original edition of The Tale of the Foxes." Klaus answered, looking over to the book and picking it up from the table.

"Wait, I know that book. We read that in junior year. It was the darkest book we've read in class." Dakota said, stepping towards Klaus to take a closer look at the book.

Klaus smirked. "Do you remember what it is about?"

"Two people who hated each other's guts and practically aired it out in everybody's faces but no one suspected a thing. There was a war under their noses and they didn't even flinch. I still remember the beginning poem." Dakota said.

She looked away from the book and out the window to recall the words of the four-line poem that basically contained the synopsis of the entire book.

"Two foxes born high and proud, One was red and one was brown. When the foxes meet and array their teeth, Which fox shall win and which fox shall bleed?" Dakota recited. "Honestly, it was a bit poorly written, but entertaining nonetheless."

The smirk on Klaus's face stretched into a grin as he found the current situation amusing. It seemed as though Klaus was aware of something Dakota was not. And it intrigued him how long it was taking her to figure it out.

"Well, forgive me. I was more into the art of painting. Elijah was the lyrical one." Klaus pointed out.

The redhead averted her gaze towards Klaus in a bewildered manner, staring at him as his grin grew wider upon Dakota's realization. "You wrote it?"

"Mary and Kol's story was one of a kind, it would've been a shame to draw a veil over it." He answered before handing the book over to Dakota.

Dakota focused her gaze on the book as she received it, her thumb glazing over the deckled edges. It was a nice feeling that this book had. She wasn't entirely sure if it had something to do with the texture of the cover that made it obvious how old it was or the thickness of it, implying that the book was filled with dark, vile, anger-ridden, true stories clutched in between those two covers. Then she realized it was actually the rawness of it all. Sure the copies of this book were well-written and well-translated. But nothing beats the raw words that Klaus had written down while the narrative was still so fresh. It made it more real and beautiful.

The young woman's mind was able to drift away from admiring the literary style as well as the behind the scenes of the book enough to finally move on to the next piece of information she got from him.

"This was Mary and Kol's story? Why didn't you name them? Or at the very least, name you?" Dakota asked, finally prying her eyes away from the book to meet his eyes. "The book was claimed by random authors which is why the story's truthfulness was put into question for centuries."

"I meant for it to be displayed as a myth. Why else would I call it a tale?" Klaus said. The title did begin with the word 'tale'. Perhaps that was intentional. And Klaus just confirmed it.

"I had my reason for wanting to keep the story as far away from our names as possible, but one that is no longer a concern—you should reread it." Klaus explained, pointing to the book clasped in the delicate, manicured, pale hands of the redhead. "I trust it would have a different influence on you now that you know you're, in a way, close to the characters of the story."

"Maybe." Dakota said. "Do you have somewhere I can read?" the redhead girl smiled timidly.

"Well then, what's the point of dismantling this whole captor-captive relationship that you and I had if you're still going to tread on my heels nearly everyday?" Klaus ranted as he walked around Dakota and waved his right hand in accordance with what he was saying.

"I want you close by just in case I have some questions while I'm reading." Dakota replied, retaining her timid smile on her scarlet lips in contrast to her white, pearly, teeth.

The original hybrid looked at Dakota in frustration as he sighed. He didn't expect that revealing the young woman's identity and history to her was going to make her cling on to him rather than scare her away. It was both an advantage and a disadvantage. He saw it a disadvantage now considering that he was dealing with a lot of things and the last thing he wanted to add to his list of to-do was entertain a 17-year-old girl under kill Stefan and everyone he has ever met.

"They just finished landscaping the garden." Klaus responded, serving it as an answer to Dakota's request of reading the book near him.

Dakota could only smile widely before bringing the book with her to the garden to read.

• ─────────────── •

Dakota was deeply invested in the treacherous and vengeful story of Mary and Kol. At the beginning of the book, Klaus described his brother as "Mayhem in the form of skin and bones, with his hair the color of crisp leaves in the midst of a mellow autumn, his brown eyes the unlatched windows to his rogue spirit and unholy soul, and his lips inevitably stained carmine red with someone else's final plea for life."

Just from that description alone, Dakota couldn't help but feel enlivened waiting for the day that she would finally meet the vampire in person. She had been waiting for quite a while. Now she had to wait a little longer until the Stefan thing was resolved.

It was already dark out. Contrary to the nights prior, the light from the moon was fairly lacking. The night sky was dark and dull with the absence of blinking stars and the paucity of shine from the moon. It did nothing to light up the redhead's mood from the dusky revelation of Mary and Kol's history which she devoured in chapters.

She decided to make her way back inside when she caught a distressed Tyler pleading in front of Klaus, pleading for Caroline's life and Dakota's body ran cold at what she heard.

"Is she dying?" she interrupted.

Klaus had noticed her presence in the room long before she had announced herself.

"You may go, Tyler." Klaus dismissed the hybrid, his face still looking troubled as he hesitated to walk away.

Dakota's brown and poignant eyes followed Tyler as he exited the room before trailing over to Klaus, whose expression looked too guilty to miss. She narrowed her eyes at the man in suspicion, tracing the remorseful features that were plastered across his face.

"Did you tell Tyler to bite Caroline?" Dakota asked.

"Sweetheart–"

"Don't call me that, Klaus. I asked you a question." Dakota said, stern and on the verge of lashing out. "Did you do it?"

Klaus visibly clenched his jaw in the midst of hiding his almost non-existent guilty conscience with a glare before he answered. "I did."

Dakota did not move a muscle. She didn't even dare to blink as a lone tear trickled down her cheek. "Now, I see it."

"See what?" Klaus said with his words weighing

"What everyone has been telling me." Dakota answered. She wanted to scream. To shout at him. But her voice felt so weak that all she could do was calmly be angry at him from a distance.

The redhead tossed the delicate old book to the same table it was on top of earlier before walking around and past him.

"You don't have to complain anymore. I'm leaving." Dakota spat before walking out of the house, leaving the original hybrid alone as he eyed the book that still carried the scent of his new, and now former, friend.

• ─────────────── •

I hope you all are doing well! In a few chapters (two, I believe), Dakota will finally meet Kol in the flesh <3 Anyway, I hope this chapter was okay!