7th October, 2011
Elijah stared at Ava for what seemed like an eternity and she felt unable to drag her gaze away from his. Why had Klaus undaggered him without telling her? Surely, given their history, he would have warned her first?
Elijah seemed to recover from the shock first. He turned to his brother, his expression unreadable and said, "What's she doing here?"
"She's here with me, Elijah."
"Well isn't that…lovely."
"A little warning would have been nice." Ava said, regaining the use of her voice as she turned to face Klaus. "Thanks for the heads up!"
"It wasn't me." Klaus replied in a voice that bristled with anger. "It must have been Stefan." There was a tense pause within which Klaus and Elijah stared at each other before Klaus turned to Ava. "Give me a moment with my brother would you, sweetheart?"
Elijah raised his eyebrows an infinitesimal amount at the word 'sweetheart' but didn't comment. Ava, giving the both of them a dark look, left the room without a word.
"So, you and my brother?"
Ava looked around to see Elijah walking towards her. His hands were in his pockets and he looked…curious. Not angry as she'd expected, or resentful.
"What about us?"
He sat down on the wall beside her and considered her for a few moments before answering. "You're an item?"
"No. We're not. Niklaus and I aren't as compatible as we once were."
"Why's that?"
"It doesn't matter." she sighed and pushed a hand through her hair before continuing. "Why are you being nice to me?"
"Is there any reason I shouldn't be?" he asked, looking a little surprised.
"Well, yeah! I mean, Klaus was still pretty angry about me bailing on the two of you when he caught up with me."
"Oh, that."
"Yeah,"
"Well, I will admit that I did nurse a burning desire to rip your heart out for a couple of centuries. About the same amount of time it took for me and Niklaus to rebuild our relationship, but somewhere along the line I put it behind me."
"Well, that's more than what Klaus did."
"Oh?"
Ava paused, staring out across the lawn. "It's a long story, it doesn't really matter. Where's Klaus?" she asked suddenly changing the subject; she didn't want to talk about Sam or any of her other friends and she certainly didn't want to talk about Rachel, her good-natured, slightly crazy friend that she'd been forced to kill.
"He said he had some business to attend to."
She laughed lightly. "Doesn't he always?"
"You don't like being here, do you?" said Elijah, watching her carefully.
"Not exactly, no."
"Why don't you leave? Run away like you did before." Though he said it lightly, Ava didn't miss the slight bitterness in his tone.
"I can't." she said stiffly, wringing her hands together agitatedly.
"I don't follow."
"I can't leave." she said slowly, turning to face him. "Not until Klaus says so."
He looked at her blankly for a few moments before comprehension dawned on his expression. "He compelled you."
"Mhmm,"
"That's my brother all over."
After Elijah had left - probably to find someone to feed on - Ava was left to her own thoughts, and she didn't like them one bit.
Despite herself she found herself attracted to Elijah the way she'd never been attracted to Klaus.
She'd loved Klaus, once. She had, she'd loved him so much, but she'd loved Elijah too. She'd connected with Elijah on a level that Klaus didn't reach. They'd been friends - close friends - since the ages of four and five. They understood each other.
Klaus had changed beyond recognition over the centuries. She was attracted to him, yes, but only physically. What would it say about her if she fell back in love with the man who forced her to kill her friends, forced her away from a life that she'd loved and took away her own free will? She was certain that Elijah would have never taken away her will. If she'd have wanted to leave, he'd have let her go. Elijah was moral, he always had been. Whilst he had no problem compelling people in general, he didn't use it on those he had a personal relationship with. She admired that about him.
She was glad that Elijah had gotten over the whole thing with her walking out and leaving them. Not that he really had anything he could punish her with. By forcing her to kill Rachel, Klaus had taken everything she had. Everyone she cared about. She had nothing to lose now, except her life.
She wondered absent-mindedly as she wandered back up to the house whether Klaus would wake the others. The thought made her groan. The last thing she wanted was to be surrounded by four men, three of whom were likely to be pissed at the fourth. She didn't want to end up caught in the middle of a siblings fight, especially one where her strength was inferior.
The only upside to Elijah having the dagger pulled out of him was that Klaus thought that having Ava around wouldn't help in the slightest whilst trying to patch things up with his elder brother, so he let her leave for a short time. He expected her back, of course, in a couple of weeks or so, but for now she was free.
She headed back to her apartment, planning on calling Thomas straight away. She'd been unreachable for over a week, he was sure to be worried.
When she arrived home, she pushed the door of her apartment open, a wave of tiredness crashing over her as she thought about her bed that was waiting for her. A small smile graced her lips as she closed the door behind her, anticipating the good nights sleep she was going to get, only to be interrupted by a shadow flying through the hall and pinning her to the door.