Dark Moon | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 90

February 2026

If there was one thing Esmeray felt, it was satisfaction.

When she was younger, she'd wondered what kind of life she would lead. An arranged marriage would have taken place. She would have had less than two children. She'd have lived and died being nothing more than the resident Healer of her Pack.

She had lived a life she would be proud of, Always and Forever.

It hadn't been easy, the first few months. They'd gotten married at the nearest Louisiana courthouse, and had gone to Paris hours later. The wedding night hadn't been what they'd been expecting; Esmeray had been too afraid to even slip out of her shirt with Klaus watching.

They were both restless by the end of the first week as a married couple, unable to gather with their loved ones to celebrate. It had been one bad decision that left them both being irresponsible with their feeding while in the city. Esmeray had enjoyed letting loose, but when the sun had come up after one night where they'd devoured nearly forty tourists, the two had to reevaluate their choices.

That was when the improvements began. Their plan. Number one on the list: pick a place and stick with it. Klaus picked Rome. Esmeray was happy with it. Number two: get a small house or spacious apartment. They went for an apartment in a quieter part of the city. Number three: find a hobby that would occupy them and keep them from feeding on innocent people.

Klaus became obsessed with his paintings again. Esmeray began to take music lessons.

Her love for life began to come back fully. After letting herself free in her music, her confidence began to grow. She made herself go and see a therapist, and after several sessions, was able to be intimate with her husband for the first time in what felt like forever, after her trauma had held her back. This had made the two of them significantly happier.

"Are you sure you're alright, love?" he whispered, holding her in the aftermath.

"I'm alright, because I'm with you," she told him, kissing him softly. "Thank you."

"For what, love?"

"For waiting for me to be ready. And for loving me."

It was Esmeray that kept Klaus diligently calling and FaceTiming his daughter. She set up a schedule to help him cope, giving him something to look forward to. Every other weekend, she flew down to New Orleans to give Hope presents from Klaus and to tell her stories about the fun things they were doing in Rome.

At the start of the second year, the couple found a new passion. Traveling. They wanted to stick with their plan, but Rome had grown tiresome. Their solution was to move around.

Little by little, they moved through the United States, avoiding only New York City, New Orleans, and Mystic Falls, since Hope was now enrolled at the Salvatore School. Esmeray did another round of helping wolf Packs. She learned about more transgender individuals and set them up with witches who could perform their transition spell. She took time recruiting young supernaturals for the school, and helped them get their things set up to enroll there.

They never stayed in any place for too long, but even with their limited time there, they made a difference. As she had before, Esmeray had had the chance to foster young children, mostly wolves, who had been left without parents. For a few weeks, sometimes months at a time, she would take care of them (mostly on her own) until they were well enough to be adopted. She took advantage of her power as the Wolf Queen to find the most suitable couples.

The years had gone by with her becoming a mother to dozens. The wolves grew more and more numerous by the day, replenishing their numbers to nearly the same size they'd been when Esmeray and Klaus had been in their youth. She saw new children be born, taught to see their lycanthropy as a gift.