Somewhere in the distance, a bird sang a lonely song, oblivious to the horror that had just clawed its way out of the earth.

Y/n stood at the edge of the trees, centuries of rot and soil still clinging to her clothes, her hair a tangled mess of leaves and grave dirt. Her skin was pale—paler than it had ever been—and her eyes, once warm with mischief and fire, now held the cold flatness of a predator who had just remembered what it was to hunger.

She had fed. Twice.

The blood still sat heavy and warm in her veins, a familiar thrum of power beneath her skin that had been dormant for far too long. It was exhilarating. It was intoxicating. And it was nowhere near enough.

She had asked the locals where the Mikaelsons had gone. They had pointed her here, to the outskirts of a town called Mystic Falls, to a sprawling estate that reeked of old magic and older sins.

The front door was unlocked.

She stepped inside—silent, graceful, a ghost in her own right—and followed the sound of laughter.

It led her down a long corridor, past portraits and vases and the unmistakable scent of oil paint, until she reached a room at the end of the hall. The door was slightly ajar. Candlelight flickered through the gap.

She pushed it open.

And stopped.

Klaus was there. Her Klaus. His back to her, his head tilted in that familiar, affectionate way as he looked at the woman beside him. A blonde. Younger than Y/n had been when they met. Human, once. The telltale rings beneath her eyes and the too-fast pulse of a newly turned vampire gave her away.

Paintings covered the walls. Dozens of them. And in every single one, the blonde woman smiled.

Y/n's gaze swept across the room once. Twice. Her chest—the place where warmth used to live—remained cold and empty.

She waited for the rage to come. It didn't.

It was worse than rage.

Klaus turned, sensing the presence, his blue eyes snapping to the doorway. For a moment, something flickered across his face—recognition, disbelief, a lightning strike of hope.

Then Y/n smiled.

It didn't reach her eyes.

Hello, Niklaus.