NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2: Under the Moonlight
Thorfinn entered Kattegat, it was late at night but the Jarl had been feasting so there were still the sounds of laughter and revelry coming from the centre of town. Thorfinn occasionally passed someone but mostly the streets were empty and people had returned to their homes; Thorfinn nodded at those he recognised and earned one back. He was nervous, to say the least, Mikael was a cruel man and a powerful man who was exceptionally wealthy, and Thorfinn was sneaking into his home to visit his only daughter. It reminded him of the story Ragnar often told his children of how he fought a bear and a hound to win the hand of Lagertha and when Bjorn would ask why he'd go so far Ragnar would say that love makes a fool of all men.
Thorfinn certainly was feeling foolish but he would not alter his plans, he wished to see Rebekah as it had been too long since their last meeting and his heart yearned to see her again. He sent a silent prayer to the gods that Mikael would not catch him and that he may leave their longhouse with all his limbs intact. He also hoped he would not catch the attention of her mother; it is said that she is a powerful witch who is favoured by the gods, at least that is what people say.
Thorfinn was getting close now and started to stick to the shadows of the houses he passed and avoid the torchlight. He had hoped since there was a feast that Mikael and his sons would be in attendance, but in case they were not he would make sure not to get spotted. A small wall ran around the entirety of Mikael's longhouse, as his house was in town this was a great signifier of his wealth as it showed how much land he had in such a desirable place. Hopping the wall was an easy task, Thorfinn then continued forward and kept close to the floor all the way to the Longhouse where he pressed his body up against the wall. He pressed his ear against the wood and tried to listen for the sounds of the father or any of the brothers, but he heard nothing which put a smile on his face.
He had been told by Rebekah that her room had a good view of the sea and so he walked around the house until he could see the bay. One of the windows was open and a light shone from within; Thorfinn looked over the edge and smiled as he saw Rebekah sitting on her bed as she undid the braids of her hair. She wore a thin white linen dress that she planned to wear to bed; Thorfinn felt his heart beat faster as he watched her, she was a beauty without equal, there was not a man —or even some women— who did not find her beautiful or wish to bed her and take her as their wife.
*Whistle*
Rebekah stopped unbraiding her hair and looked to the window where the whistle had come from. She almost screamed when she saw someone there watching her, but seeing the familiar white hair managed to calm her down. "Thorfinn!" She whispered excitedly as she rushed over to her window.
Thorfinn smiled at her before pulling himself inside her room and embracing her in a hug. He relished the feel of her pressed up against him; he felt disappointed when she pulled away but was rewarded by the sight of her beautiful face. "What are you doing here so late, my father would kill you if he found you here," she said with a hint of concern in her voice.
"I could not spend another night without seeing your face, and I would fight your entire family for that privilege," Thorfinn said as he brushed her long wavy blonde hair behind her ears.
"You are sweet Thorfinn, but foolish, very few could best my father in a fight," she said as she caressed his face.
Thorfinn smiled "Then I shall be one of those few so I may claim the hand of his daughter," he said before moving in closer and pressing his lips against Rebekah's. She hummed in delight as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his lips pressed against her own. She squeaked as Thorfinn lifted her up and carried her over to her bed and sat down so that she was on top of him. Thorfinn felt his arousal peak having such a beautiful woman on top of him, in that moment he would even fight the gods should they come in and try to separate the two.
Rebekah felt very much the same, the feeling of Thorfinn's tongue wrestling with her own sent sparks of pleasure rushing through her body and causing her to heat up. In that moment she forgot about the worry of her father or any of her brothers walking in and focused on the boy before her which made her heart almost beat out of her chest. Especially the way his hands roamed around her body, she knew that she wasn't meant to be acting so indecently and that her father wanted to marry her to the Jarl to increase his power and prestige. Once upon a time, she would've been open to being the future Jarl's wife but now her heart belonged to Thorfinn and he had it completely.
Thorfinn's hands started to snake their way up her dress touching her smooth legs and soft thighs. Rebekah's voice hitched before she pulled away "You can't..." she said as she breathed breathlessly.
Thorfinn leaned his head into the crook of her neck and started kissing her "Why not... we both want this," He said while biting down on her shoulder.
"Mmmm... No! My family will hear me, I won't be able to keep quiet," she whispered as she ran her hands through his hair.
Thorfinn breathed out a sigh before moving back and leaning on his hands. "I wish we could do more but my brothers sleep close and the walls are thin, even speaking to you now carries risk," she whispered to him with a frown upon her face.
Thorfinn touched her face and ran his fingers across her mouth "Smile again... a frown does not suit you," he said which managed to cheer Rebekah up a bit.
Her eyes then widened for a second as she climbed off him. Thorfinn regretted that as his pole was now stood up straight for everyone to see, he also missed the warmth of her body. He looked over to see Rebekah walk over to her chest before opening it and pulling out something he could not see "Close your eyes, I have a gift for you," she said with a smile.
Thorfinn laughed before closing his eyes and holding his arms out. "You can open them," Rebekah said her voice dripping with anticipation.
Thorfinn opened his eyes and saw a beautifully made serkr that had a collar with stitched-in runic symbols. On the chest of the serkr was a falcon that had been stitched in which was incredibly detailed. "You worship Freyja do you not? I thought this might be a good way to keep her close to your heart," Rebekah said as she sat next to Thorfinn on the bed.
Thorfinn looked at it in awe for a moment before putting it on his knees and looking at Rebekah. "It's beautiful, it's as if you've taken some of your own light and woven it into the threads before stitching it," Thorfinn said before leaning over and kissing Rebekah once again. One she gladly reciprocated, though a moment later he pulled back and pulled a pouch from his belt. "I brought you a gift as well," He said before putting the pouch in her hand.
Rebekah opened the pouch and giggled "Honey-soaked apple, how did you get this?" She asked as it was not a cheap food to buy and even her father limited the amount she could have.
"I found the honey myself and the rest was easy," he said casually as if it was no big task. Though in truth he got stung a couple dozen times before he was able to get the honeycomb he needed.
Rebekah kissed him before taking a bite from the apple and moaning in content. These were by far her favourite food, she loved the sweetness of honey combined with the taste of the apple, she'd eat these all day if she was able to. "To believe I thought you could not give me any more reasons to love you," Rebekah said as she quickly devoured another one.
"I plan to join the summer raids," Thorfinn said abruptly making Rebekah almost choke on her food.
"Surely you can't mean it, you are too young, too inexperienced with the sword," She said with a worried face.
"I will learn, but I need to start earning my way in this world and quickly," Thorfinn replied.
Putting the pouch down she looked at Thorfinn with her large blue eyes that looked like the sky on a clear day. "Why do you need to endanger yourself so early? you do not even have your arm ring yet," Rebekah asked as her eyes began to water, her father had often told her that the young men were among the first to die on the raids as they were too eager for battle and riches.
Thorfinn placed his head against Rebekah's "I wish to marry you and have you for my own, but your father will never give me your hand while I am still an orphan with nothing, only by making my fortune will I become worthy," he explained.
"Then learn a trade, the new Smith by the harbour is looking for an apprentice, you could make a lot of coin once you've been trained," Rebekah suggested, her face hopeful that Thorfinn would listen.
"Your father will have married you to the Jarl's son by the time I've even sold my first sword," Thorfinn said with a humourless laugh.
Rebekah looked down a moment trying to come up with another solution until she looked back up "Then let's run away together, we need not stay in Kattegat, we can go to Denmark or Götland, we could make a home and have a family together," She said as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
Thorfinn shook his head "I do not wish to deprive you of your family because I know how much they mean to you," he said as he reached his arm around her and rubbed her arm.
"I will be fine my love, I have been practising with my sword and axe, I will make it home, I swear upon the gods," Thorfinn said as he placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"I would forsake my family if it meant starting one with you, I wish for us to have our own home and I want to fill it with our children, Father has been getting worse as of late and he always takes his anger out in Niklaus, I would urge him to run away too if I thought he would," Rebekah confided in Thorfinn as she placed her feet on the be and rested her on on his lap.
"We shall be together, it was destined, ever since I saw you that day I knew it was meant to be," Thorfinn assured her as he ran his hands through her head. She sighed in contentment as she started rubbing her thighs together; the sight only enflamed Thorfinn's arousal more and he couldn't help but lick his lips at the sight of of dress ridding up her body.
"I wish you could sleep here tonight," Rebekah said quietly as her hand rubbed Thorfinn's legs.
"I wish I could too, but I shudder to think what might happen if anyone catches me in your bed," Thorfinn said with a laugh. Though as they both laughed they were unaware of the door being opened.
*Creak*
Both Rebekah and Thorfinn looked over to the door and an icy cold feeling washed over them. It was Rebekah's little brother, Henrik, he was at the door looking at both Rebekah and Thorfinn with wide eyes. Rebekah sat up immediately "Henrik... before you say anything just-'
"STRANGER! THERE IS A STRANGER IN REBEKAH'S ROOM!!!" Henrik shouted as he ran away from her room running down the hallway to where her brothers slept.
'Fuck!' Thorfinn thought as he stood up from the bed. "It looks like our meetings been cut short my love, until next time," he said with a smile before embracing her for one last kiss.
*THUMP*
*THUMP*
*THUMP*
The sounds of feet hitting wood made its way to Thorfinn and Rebekah letting them both know that her elder brothers were now awake. The door smashed open, and Elijah and Niklaus poured into her room just in time to see Thorfinn dive through the window to make his escape. Both brothers looked at each other before immediately following him out "No wait! Please stop!" Rebekah begged but Elijah and Niklaus ignored her and jumped out the window.
"Get back here!" Niklaus shouted as he could see Thorfinn hop the wall of their home.
Thorfinn breathed heavily as he looked behind him to see two of her brothers giving chase. They were both a lot bigger than he was even though they were only two and five winters older than him respectively. Thorfinn hopped onto a cart before jumping up to the lip of a house and pulling himself onto it. "Stop running we only want to talk!!!" Niklaus shouted aggressively in a completely unconvincing manner.
"Calm down brother, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation, that I would be happy to hear once he stops trying to escape," Elijah said the last part loudly to make sure Thorfinn heard them, but Thorfinn wasn't a fool he knew he'd be in for the beating of his life if he stopped running and so he didn't. He jumped onto the next building before sliding down into a pile of hay and falling onto the ground. Thinking quickly he smeared his hair and face in the mud, they hadn't seen what he looked like yet but that would change once they saw his hair and recognised who he was. His hair was unique among the people in Kattegat and the surrounding lands, only old people had white hair and it was usually dull and lifeless, but here's was like pure snow that reflected sunlight.
Thorfinn hoped over another fence only to nearly be tackled by Niklaus who had gone a different direction to cut him off. Reacting quickly Thorfinn leaned backwards and shoved Niklaus adding to his momentum and forcing him to tumble to the ground. "RAHHH!!" Niklaus shouted in rage as he slammed his fist into the ground and got back up, but Thorfinn was already running in the opposite direction as fast as he could.
However, as emerged from between two houses he was barged to the ground by Elijah who had taken a less rash approach to capturing him. "So you are the man to sneak into my home and try to defile my sister, stand up so I may see you," he said as he withdrew his sword and pointed it at Thorfinn.
Thorfinn got up slowly and turned revealing his face and hair that had been covered in mud. "Hiding your identity with mud, a smart plan, but one that will not matter once I cut you threw," Elijah said as he drew his sword back.
Thorfinn rolled across the ground, avoiding the first slash and then grabbed Elijah's arm to try and stool the second slash but the man easily shook him off using his superior strength and slammed his fist into his face. "You're weak... you must be a child, tell me who you are and I might consider letting you be judged before the Jarl instead of executing you myself," Elijah said pointing his sword at Thorfinn.
Thorfinn did not speak and instead looked around for an escape route. Elijah saw this and kept an eye on his body to read where he would move. "RAAAAAH!!!" Thorfinn looked to see Niklaus charging at him with a murderous expression on his face.
Thorfinn did the unexpected and charged towards Elijah who prepared to attack with his weapon. Elijah swung his sword to Thorfinn's side, but much to his surprise Thorfinn slid under the blade, as moved through the mud he slashed Elijah's belt making his hosur fall to the ground. Thorfinn then stood up while still running and barged shoulder-first into the door of a house that Elijah was in front of.
"Oooooh! Ooooh!!!"
Thorfinn turned to see that a man was fucking his wife in a strange position. However, once the woman saw Thorfinn she started screaming "Sorry!" Thorfinn said before he kept running and jumping out their rear window. He kept going as fast as he could and eventually, he lost sight of Niklaus, he assumed Elijah was out of the chase as he couldn't chase him while holding up his hosur'.
Thorfinn ran all the way out of Kattegat and couldn't help but laugh as he looked back to the town. He truly did hope that Elijah and Niklaus wouldn't recognise him when he received his armband tomorrow. Thorfinn turned back on the dirt trail and continued running back to Ragnar's farmstead, it had been a long day and he was ready for some sleep.
...
Rebekah could only sit patiently on her bed and wait for news of what happened. When she heard her brother come inside yelling loudly before slamming the door to his room shut she felt a small smile make its way onto her face. One that disappeared as soon as she saw her other brother Elijah walk into her room with an expression no less impressed than Niklaus.
"Did he force himself on you?" Elijah asked as he walked into her room.
"No of course not!" Rebekah said with a little outrage in her voice.
"Then you love him?" Elijah asked.
Rebekah wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded "I do."
"How long?" Elijah asked again as he took a seat in a chair opposite her bed.
"We met a winter ago," she said as she fiddled with her hands.
"That is enough for me, but you know it'll not be enough for father or mother," Elijah said sternly.
"Who is this boy, who is his father, what wealth does he have, what lands does he own, if you cannot satisfy these questions then you'll do nothing but anger father for wasting his time," Elijah said to a now crying Rebekah.
"You are lucky it was us who discovered him in your room, anyone else and they would tell father or mother and they'd tear Kattegat apart trying to find him."
"I just wish to be his wife..." Rebekah said weakly.
Elijah sighed as rubbed his neck. He loved his little sister and wished for her to be happy even at the expense of his father's anger. "You need to be more careful... has he... entered you," Elijah said a little awkwardly as he looked away from his sister.
"No, not yet," she said quietly, and Elijah tried not to recoil at the fact she said not yet.
"Good... I wish I could help you Rebekah, but there is no way I can see you being with this boy if he has nothing," Elijah said as he stood up and went to leave his room, though he stopped when Rebekah grabbed his hand.
"He plans to go raiding, to fight and gain a fortune," Rebekah said abruptly.
"Then I wish him good fortune and hope he fights well," Elijah replied.
"He's only a farmhand, he does not have true training in fighting, I worry he will die, could you please help him," Rebekah pleaded.
"I cannot protect him on the raid, I must focus on my own well-being and Niklaus'," Elijah said bluntly.
"The raids aren't for a while yet, you could give him some proper training at the very least, please Elijah!" She begged as she stood up and looked at her brother with tears in her eyes.
Elijah felt his will crumble under the stare of his sister and he sighed before nodding. "Very well, but you will have to tell me who he is before I accept," He said.
Rebekah looked as if she wouldn't say for a moment, but then she thought about Thorfinn being killed by an Eastlanders axe or spear and her resolve crumbled too "He's Thorfinn, he works on Ragnars Lothbroks farm," she said quietly.
Elijah chuckled "Thorfinn, I've heard of him, they say he is Baldur in human form, no wonder you would choose such a boy to fall in love with," he said earning a slap on the arm from his sister.
"I will do my best to train him sister, but it will not guarantee his safety, if he is a poor warrior he will die," Elijah said coldly before leaving her room and heading back to his own.
Rebekah closed the door to her room before lying back down on her bed and sighing deeply. She already missed the feeling of Thorfinn's body and how his lips felt pressed against hers, she fell asleep holding her pillow imagining it was him.
(AN: So this is the main Love Interest Rebekah Mikaelson and yes they will all become original vampires. But tbh I really liked the flash backs of the originals before they were turned snd this is a Vikings fic as well so for now it'll mostly be Vikings though supernatural things will be included too. Werewolves will be changed and instead of wolves they'll transform into Lycans cause I think they're cooler. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.)
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