3 Chapter 3: Innocent

Elena woke up slowly. She felt completely rested, which was strange since she usually couldn't sleep a wink if she wasn't in her own bed.

She had to admit though, that this bed felt like a cloud underneath her. It was so soft that she never wanted to leave it. She sighed deeply knowing that, weather she wanted to or not, she would have to get up.

She couldn't waste time like this, not now. She stifled a yawn and finally opened her eyes.

The sun was streaming in from the window on the left side of the bed without reaching her eyes, sparing her from being blinded by its brightness first thing in the morning. Elena sat up, stretching her arms up in the air lightly smiling when her back popped satisfyingly.

She let her arms fall back by her side and took in her room. The previous day she had been so relieved that she had succeeded in landing a job at the Mansion that, even though she had met with Klaus in the morning, she had felt exhausted.

She had gathered enough strength to crawl under the covers and she had immediately fallen asleep, waking up the following morning.

The room was all light colors and wooden furniture. Exactly by the wall on the other side of her bed was a magnificent wardrobe, clearly handmade if the delicate ornaments on it were anything to go by.

She would have to buy some clothes, since she didn't have that much with her. On the left of the wardrobe was a table with papers and pencils on it in case she wanted to write down something. To the right of the bed was a door that led into the built-in bathroom.

It wasn't big but it had everything she could ever need. All in all this had to be the nicest room she had ever been in since the day she left her family house.

Deciding it was time for her to start her day, Elena threw the covers off of her and swung her legs to the side to stand up.

After a little bit of stretching to get her blood pumping, pun intended she smiled, she made her way into the bathroom. While taking a quick shower, she thought about her plans for the day.

Klaus had said nothing about what she was supposed to do so she figured she could look around the Mansion a bit, get her bearings and maybe snoop around a bit to see if she found anything interesting.

She didn't expect to find his secrets just lying around but one never knew.

She chose to wear a simple white tank top, with a light blue long cardigan over it, and a pair of jeans. To finish everything off she put on a pair of combat boots. When she checked herself in the mirror she idly wondered if the strange man from the day before would make an appearance.

Maybe she could finally get to know him. Even though she was a fifty-five year old vampire she still felt young, probably because she had been turned when she was only eighteen.

In a house full of Originals who had been alive for who knows how long exactly, it was nice to know that there was someone as young as her. Sort of.

Exiting her room, she found herself at the end of a long white hallway. Since all the doors she could see led to other bedrooms, she immediately went downstairs to start her exploration. The stairs she took to go downstairs led her to the beautiful hall that greeted everyone who came in through the front door. She already knew that the door on the right under the stairs opened into the ballroom, so she decided to go to the left this time, and make her way from there.

As she had already imagined there was nothing that could help here understand where Klaus's new powers came from, but she did find some interesting places. The first room she walked in had been a living room so big that she had felt a little too exposed at first.

The wall opposite the double-doors through which she had entered was made entirely of glass, something that allowed to see the garden outside. On the left there was a pool-table, but she didn't care too much about it since she didn't know how to play.

On the right side there were sofas and armchairs, all so comfortable looking that she actually entertained the idea of sitting down for a bit, and a giant TV set.

The second room had been a library so richly furnished that she had stood there with her mouth gaping. She had never seen so many books in just one room. She loved to read, something that her mother passionately encouraged in her, but unfortunately Jäger did not have a library.

After all their purpose was to take down Klaus, not to spend their time immersed in fantasy worlds. The reality they lived in was the only one that mattered and if they didn't do something to change it, no one would.

Elena decided that if she ever had the time, she would steal a couple of books to read in the evening. Surely Klaus wouldn't notice.

The inside pool had been an unexpected discovery. She doubted she would ever set foot in it, but she did like to know that at least, if she wanted to take the risk, she could actually swim around a bit.

She softly smiled imagining Klaus in there. Somehow the paranoid Original did not seem the type of man who would like swimming and playing the dead to stay afloat.

Although he wouldn't actually be playing the dead since he actually was dead but, whatever.

The last room she discovered, however, gave her the feeling of being the most important one. It wasn't overly big or grandiose like other rooms she had seen. The walls were painted in a soft beige and the floor was entirely covered by parquet, which gave the room a warm atmosphere.

The nine-feet tall windows let the sun come in, illuminating it completely. There was no furniture in that room, except for the shining black piano in the center of it.

It looked new, but Elena instinctively new that that wasn't the case. The owner probably took great care of it, since she saw that some of the keys were a little worn out.

She lightly pressed the palm of her hand on the surface of it, feeling the wood beneath her fingers. She knew nothing about pianos or how to play them, but she remembered how much her father loved to play for her mother.

He was always smiling while his fingers rapidly moved over the keys, almost flying. Elena always thought that the music her father could create was pure magic. And maybe it really was, because those weren't just sounds.

They were feelings, dreams and memories that her father played like a virtuoso.

Elena quickly wiped away the lone tear that was lining her cheek before turning to leave the room. Before closing the door behind her, she stole a quick glance at the piano wondering who the owner was. Somehow she couldn't imagine Klaus playing it.

Maybe it was Elijah's, Klaus's older brother. He had always had a reputation for being a cultured man.

Satisfied with her discoveries for the moment, Elena tried to make her way toward the garden. She really wanted to take her time to see what that beautiful paradise had to offer.

However, no matter how many turns she took, she did not find a single freaking door that led to her promised land. Taking the fifth right turn in a many minutes, she found herself in the entrance of a small living room.

This one was nothing like the gigantic room she had first found that morning.

There warmth here, comfort and something she couldn't quite define. It was lived in.

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