Palm Reading

I was pulled from my memory by a knock on my door. I sat up and answered it, Amelie was standing there holding a stuffed toy. 

"Dinner is ready papa, I came to get you." 

"Thank you sweetie." She smiled and I picked her up. 

We made our way to the kitchen and she got off and sat in her chair. We ate quietly as I began to think about what I saw in my memories. Dahlia, the blonde character I didn't get a good look at because I hadn't been paying close attention. I knew she was important somehow, the only other blonde was Rebekah and I knew she couldn't do magic. Amelie calls out to me and I look at her. 

"Papa, is it okay if I go back to my room early, I want to read." 

"Of course love," I smiled at her. "Just call for me or one of the servants if you need anything." 

She nods and pushes her chair back in before running back off to her room. I follow suit only I go off  to the courtyard and look at the blooming vervain plants in my garden. They were almost ready to be plucked, I touched one of the flowers lightly and marveled at the color. They had grown a bright yellow instead of the violet they had been in the show. They still didn't affect me, but I couldn't help but to feel like this signified something. I stepped back as the flower I had touched changed colors. It went from yellow to a deep shade of violet as my hand left it. 

"Interesting." 

Observing the flowers a bit more I noticed that only the flower I had touched had turned violet. The other flowers were still yellow. I walked through the garden a bit more and looked at the slowly sprouting wolfsbane plants I had sown recently. I was planning to stockpile both plants to make sure that I could easily fight off anything that came after me and Amelie. In another month or so the wolfsbane would start to bloom. I sat on a patio chair and looked out past the horizon. It had been quite some time since I had heard from Emily and Katherine. Emily most likely was dead by now, but Katherine was still out there probably looking for her daughter. I went back to my bedroom and drifted off to sleep as the sun set. 

[Scene Break]

Two years passed and the world continued to develop as new technologies were invented. I upgraded the house with new tech and got a better car. I kept the old Model T covered in a shed, I knew that it would become a collectors dream in the future. Amelie was now thirteen years old, she was starting to show signs of maturity. She didn't skip around as much anymore and would often spend time with other girls her age. I thanked Morgana silently for dulling my rage. I knew that the day she started talking to boys I would have to restrain myself from going on a rampage. 

I had eventually remembered the unknown Mikaelson witch's name when I had been reading a book on Norse mythology and ran into the names of the gods and goddesses. I had sent out a few operatives to search for Freya across the US and I hadn't gotten word back just yet. 

Reading the business report on my desk I made note of the rising profits of my banks and farm. I had expanded the land again the prior year and another branch of my bank opened in New York. I was playing with introducing a new project I was working on that plagiarized Amazon. I was thinking of publishing a paper that sold various goods that people could order through the mail. The Internet didn't exist yet and computers were just theories. I decided to put the project of screwing over Jeff Bezos before he was even born on a shelf and focused on another issue. I knew an economic collapse was on its way within the next decade or so. I hired consultants to help me secure my banks. My farm had already been practicing crossbreeding plants so that it was safe from the famine. I planned on having a failsafe for the banks so that should the economy collapse that they would continue to run without issue. I eventually came to the conclusion that the issue was the stock market and monetary supply concerns. I wrote a letter to all my banks to keep an eye on the market. I handed the letter off to a servant to drop off at the post office and I made my way to the vault. 

Inside, the piles of gold had doubled. I had gone out of my way to buy up as much gold as I could as a redundancy. I looked at the stacks of gold bars lining the walls and sighed, if the Great Depression happened this gold would save my business should they fail to adapt on time. I looked at the sword I had placed back on its mantle after the war. It was still in pristine condition. The edge hadn't dulled or even chipped. I wondered if it was enchanted somehow. Morgana had not explained other than 'it is a normal sword.' She hadn't even come and tried to annoy me recently. Whatever she was doing in my old world she must have been rather busy, shrugging. I walked out of my vault, closing the heavy doors and made my way over to the cellar. I had the refrigeration units upgraded as well. Rows of bottles containing blood lined the cooling containers. Electricity was advancing, I still kept the steam powered generator just in case but my whole house was now running off of electricity. 

I grabbed a bottle of blood before heading back to my study. Amelie was out with friends today and wouldn't be back until noon. I sat on my chair and poured myself a glass of blood. Sipping the liquid I flipped through a grimoire that Giuseppe had tucked in his office. I had snuck into the Salvatore house months ago looking for signs on where the brothers were. The furniture had been covered with white sheets and dust settled on everything else. They hadn't been back for some time now, so I headed to their fathers study. There I found a hidden compartment in his desk that led me to this book of spells. I knew it was Emily's, her scent was still faintly on it. I read through the Latin inscriptions and notes written to the side. There were various spells from locator spells, a sealing charm, even a charm to cause an aneurysm. I had tried doing some of the spells and failed. I set the book aside, and returned it to its spot in a drawer. 

"I'll give that to Amelie one day when she's ready. Maybe she can make good use of the spells on it." 

[Scene Break]

Several more years pass without incident. Amelie was planning to leave in a week to attend university in New York. She had grown up in a blink of an eye, thankfully she never brought a boy home and I never had to bust out the old 'greet the guy with a shovel in my hand' routine I had thought up. 

"Papa, it'll be okay, I'll be back before you know it."

"Amelie, why couldn't  you stay small and cute forever? It feels like yesterday that I chased you around the house and bought you ice cream." 

She laughs and gives me a hug, she picks up her bags and loads them on the car as a servant waits to drop her off at the train station. 

"Stay away from boys, and write me if you even need anything, an-"

"Papa I know, I can take care of myself." 

She gets into the car and smiles at me. 

"I'll write you every month, and don't worry about boys."

"Good," I walked over to her side of the car and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'll miss you my little princess."

"I love you papa, please don't worry too much, you'll get white hairs and wrinkles." 

I let out a laugh. "I love you too princess."

I watched as the car pulled away and I was left alone standing in my driveway. I would need to move away soon, before the townsfolk noticed that I wasn't aging. Turning back to the house I began to make preparations. I wrote a letter to the mayor detailing that I would be moving to New Orleans to spy on the vampires there and that my estate would be taken care of by my servants. I left him a crate of vervain as well as notes on its properties to help fight off compulsion. 

I called ahead and informed my servants in the French Quarter to get my home ready for me to move in. Packing my essentials I loaded up the luggage in the back of another car. I had already moved the refrigeration units a week ago, now all that was left was to actually travel to New Orleans. I instructed my remaining staff that I would be leaving for a while and that they would follow a protocol I had worked out should I need to move away to pass time. They would be allowed to stay in the house and raise their family's but in return they would maintain the grounds and continue to do their jobs. 

I drove out of the estate and was soon out of the Mystic Falls city limits. I drove for several hours before stopping for gasoline. The rest of the drive was rather boring. I missed having a radio in the car. Stopping off to the side of the road I took a short break to get a drink and gather my thoughts. Amelie would be in New York, I had trained her in hand to hand combat, as well as using guns and wielding a sword. I knew it was a bit much but I was determined to keep my promise to Anais. Sure I could have moved to New York. But I wanted to give her the space to grow on her own without me hounding her every step. Sighing I continued to drive, hours passed as I stopped occasionally for gas. Soon I was in New Orleans and pulling into my property in the French Quarter. I parked the car as servants unloaded my luggage. The estate here was smaller than the one in Mystic Falls, but it was just as luxurious. Here I would need to lay low, the Mikaelsons still ruled the city and the witches had to know that I escaped their trap by now. I wasn't hoping to try Morganas antimagic runes anytime soon. 

I stepped into my bedroom in the newly occupied estate and sat on the bed. My luggage had been delivered to the room. Unpacking took me a few minutes when I used my vampire speed. I quickly set up my new study as well and looked out the window to the busy streets a few blocks away. The place rivaled New York in terms of nightlife. Vendors still sold their trinkets this late and I noticed a few vampires prowling in the crowds. I made a note to work on a disguise so that I could walk the streets freely without drawing attention to myself. Soon I drifted of to sleep thinking about Amelie and writing to her as soon as she arrived in New York. 

The next morning I had servants help me dye my hair a darker color from the light brown that it was. Soon I was sporting jet black hair. I had elected to grow my facial hair out the prior year, applying a bit of dye to it, I was soon a completely different person. I checked to see if the dye would come off when touched. Satisfied that it wouldn't I put on my coat and slicked back my hair before putting on a trillbilly hat. I stepped out of the door and had a servant drive me out into the heart of the city. I explored for a bit before stopping at a storefront. The advertisement outside claimed that this establishment did palm readings. Curiosity got the best of me and I stepped inside taking off my hat. 

I felt magic in the air, Morgana's runes did their job and I walked through a ward. An aging woman stepped out from a back room and greeted me. 

"Welcome, what can I do for you today?"

"The sign outside." I point with my thumb. "It says palm reading, how much is it to get my fortune read?"

The old woman looks through her gold rimmed glasses. I felt some magic wash over me, I acted nonchalant as if I didn't notice her trying to cast a spell on me silently. 

"Interesting." She said quietly. "It'll be two dollars for a full reading."

It seemed a bit steep, I could get a week's worth of food for a family with that kind of money. Nevertheless, I pull out two notes from my pocket and place them on the counter. The old woman leads me to the back room, she sits at a table with a black ball in the center. Gesturing towards the open seat I comply. She places her hands on the table and looks at me. 

"This may or may not work, and you may not like what you find." 

"Go ahead." 

She closes her eyes and starts to chant. I felt the magic roll off of her and start to swirl in the room. The ball in the center of the table starts to glow before images start flashing by. It was about things that had already happened. She must have not realized that I could see it as well because she started to explain what was being shown on the crystal ball. 

"You took part in many conflicts. You will have a long and fruitful existence, but there are trials that will soon make themselves known. Death seems to follow you, you've lost a close friend and a lover. A woman will approach you, something precious will be taken. The vision darkens, I see a forest, two fires and a woman. The vision fades." 

I thought about what she said for a moment, a lot of that had already happened. A woman approaching me caught my attention. I had been looking for Freya, maybe she would come looking for me instead. The forest and the two fires sounded a lot like the sun and moon ritual, the seer mentioning a woman only cemented it. I'd have to eventually deal with Elena as much as I didn't want to. Something taken from me was too vague, Amelie had already been taken from me once before. I made a note to call her once I was done here. 

"Pardon me young man, but I am not done." 

I raise my eyebrow at the old woman. She walks over and takes my hand, staring intently at my palm. I felt her magic brush against my skin. She immediately lets go of my hand and stumbles backwards. 

"Death." She points a finger at me. "You have been touched by death." 

"Lady, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Out, get out. You will bring death and destruction wherever you go. I will not have such things in my home." 

The old woman pushes me back out onto the street, I fix my coat and put my hat back on. 

'That was weird. Did she find out that I'm a vampire? Morgana's runes still work, and no other witches seem to notice.' 

Shrugging, I walk around inspecting different stalls processing what I had just been told. As the sun began to set I started making my way back to my home. I got the feeling that I was being watched and immediately started scanning my surroundings. I made my way around buildings eventually ducking into an alley and waiting. Just then a cloaked figure followed after me and I pinned them against the wall. I felt magic trying to affect me only to fail. Elongating my fangs I snarl at the figure. Pulling the hood from the figure's face I immediately backed up and let the figure go. 

"Nicole?"