Elijah was only older than me by about a hundred years and for as long as I can remember we were the dynamic duo. No, that's not it: the terror twins. That's wrong too, we played good cop/bad cop too much. Okay. So he was Batman and I was Nikki Sixx.

I was supposed to meet him outside of a known vampire café, but as usual, I was running late. As I approached I saw him standing with one hand in his pocket and coins in the palm of his other. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand, leaving streaks of blood up my wrist.

"You ask me to wait for you, but then you don't show up on time." You could hear the irritation in his voice.

"I was hungry," I shrugged and then held out my hand.

Elijah dropped one of the coins into my hand and I gripped it as I would a rock I was going to skip across a lake. Silently, he counted to three. I know most vampires could play mind games, but we regularly spoke without words. Can your best friend do that? At the same time, we threw the coins. The glass shattered. Screams and hisses permeated the air. Calmly, I watched the chaos unfold in front of us and listened to the searing flesh of the nightwalkers. Elijah used violence as a show of power;I just enjoyed it.

"Show some restraint," he scolded me.

"Have some fun," I retorted. "I'll get Slater."

"Make sure he's in one piece."

I ran around to the back entrance of the café and waited for the hordes of vampires to come rushing out. When I saw the one who was talking to Rose and Damon, I grabbed him, rushing him back to his own flat where Elijah was waiting for us with his witch. I tossed the captive at his feet, proving that he was indeed in one piece.

"Now, now, be nice to our guest."

I took a deep breath. Good cop/bad cop worked well for us, but the patronizing tone still caught me off guard sometimes. "Not my area," I grinned at the terrified vampire, still on the floor.

Elijah helped Slater up and dusted him off. "I need you to do something for me," he used his compulsion. "Call Rosemary. Tell her the curse could be ended, but they will need the moonstone. And a witch. If they get the moonstone, the witch can figure out the rest."

Slater pulled out his cell phone and called Rose. When she answered, he repeated nearly verbatim what Elijah had told him to say.

"Nicely done," I growled when he finished. I had been hoping for torture.

"I have a degree in theater," Slater told me, but then looked at my friend. "How can you compel me? A vampire can't compel another vampire."

Elijah didn't answer, only held out a wooden stake. "Now I want you to take this and drive it through your heart."

"But that would kill me forever." Slater's eyes widened.

"I know, but either you do it. Or she does."

Slater quickly grabbed the stake, obviously frightened of me. He pressed the stake into his chest until it reached his heart and he fell over backwards. His skin turned grey and you could see the veins reaching up from his neck.

"What that really necessary?" Jonas Martin, Elijah's witch showed his face.

I patted the good doctor's shoulder. "He did it as neatly as possible, trust me."

"He delivered his message," Elijah added. "It won't be long now."

"So why are you here?" I asked Jonas.

"Clearing out Slater's computer since you two are stuck in the 12th century," he answered. "I'm finished. Let's go."

The three of us cleared out as quickly as we came.

"Clean yourself up. I've found her."

I groaned and rolled over, completely covered in blood. The sheets on the mattress were soaked as well and there were three naked bodies other than mine in the room. I could hear water running, Elijah must have turned on the bath. "Fuck off," I muttered.

"You clean yourself up and I'll clean up the bodies. Deal?" He picked me up bridal style and placed me in the steaming water. "Now is really not the time to be going on benders."

"But they were so hot!" I protested. They were, you should have seen these men: strong jaws, high cheekbones, dark hair, and blue eyes. Oh my god. Damon Salvatore is my type. "One of them isn't completely drained if you're hungry," I called as I scrubbed my arms and legs, turning the water in the tub pink. "Eli!"

He appeared in the doorway, the sleeves of his button down rolled to his elbows.

I was trying to reach the center of my back with a wash cloth. "My back feels crusty. Is there blood? I can't reach."

He laughed and knelt down by the tub, taking the cloth from me. "Lean forward," he ordered.

I obeyed so that my chin touched my knees as he gently wiped the blood from me. "Thank you," I mumbled.

We arrived back at Salter's flat just behind three low level minions. Immediately, I snapped the neck of the one closest to me, gaining the attention of the others, including Rose, Damon, and the doppelganger. Rose fled, but Damon spoke.

"I killed you. You were dead," he knit his eyebrows together.

"For centuries now," Elijah replied. "Who are you?" he asked the minions.

"Who are you?" they retorted.

"I'm Elijah."

The look on their faces was priceless. They lowered their offensive stance as their jaws hit the floor. "We were gonna bring her to you. For Klaus. She's the doppelganger." The more he spoke, the more I wanted to tear his head off. "I don't know how she exists, but she does. Klaus will want to see her."

"Does anyone else know that you're here?" Elijah asked.

When they answered, no, Elijah thanked them for their helpfulness and stepped back, giving me the go-ahead to use violence. Without blinking, I tore their hearts out. I looked at Elena as she gasped. I had forgotten there was a human in the room. I began licking the blood off one of my hands, intending to frighten her even more. I felt Elijah's hand on my shoulder and we left without another word.

"Are you going to see the witch?" I asked Elijah when we were back on the street.

"Do you want to come?"

I wrinkled my nose. He knew I hated witches. They inherently hated vampires and I found it hard to like anyone I couldn't trust, or kill easily. Still, I went with him to the Martin's house. It was a typical home from what I observed, but we didn't move past their living room to be polite. We had been invited in once, but Elijah insisted on not intruding. I picked a particularly comfy looking armchair and Elijah stood by a large window as we waited for Jonas. The man entered the room and without turning to look at him, I knew he was alone. "Where's Luka?" Elijah asked.

"Asleep." Martin answered, but there was something wrong with the tone of his voice.

I glanced up at Elijah although I was sure he had caught it as well. "Your shadow spell was successful," he told the witch. "I was able to track that girl. Though I did have a little run in with one of the brothers that tried to kill me."

"I assume he didn't live to tell about it." Now, Martin was being rude.

I stood up to face him. Something Elijah's brother Klaus and I had in common was that we did not tolerate rudeness. But there was no point in harming him if he wasn't frightened of me; the fear was half the fun.

"Actually, I spared him," Elijah continued quietly. "He'd die before he let anything happen to her; they both would. She'll be kept safe."

I should have said earlier that Elijah and I were living out of a hotel between Mystic Falls and Richmond. We reclined on Elijah's bed since mine currently didn't have any sheets. "You know, I kind of miss Niklaus."

"Not Kol?" Elijah chuckled. "What about Rebekah?"

"Well, obviously, but I've kind of given up on seeing either of them again."

"And Klaus isn't going to want to see you when he finds out what we've been up to." Elijah rolled off the bed, unbuttoning his shirt. I watched as he revealed his chiseled chest and toned arms. Everyone I knew was stunning. I didn't have a flat stomach and my thighs rubbed together when I walked. And while sometimes it upset me, I never impaired my ability to seduce others. He replaced his dress shirt with a relaxed tee. He kissed my temple when he laid back down. "Goodnight, Liz." He rolled over onto his side, facing away from me.

I didn't bother changing, but rolled over onto my side as well, wrapping one of my arms around him. "Eli, why don't you have a girlfriend?"

"What could I do with a girlfriend that I don't do with you?" he answered.

"Have sex," I mumbled into his back. I loved having sex, but I didn't like attachments, so Elijah didn't bother reciprocating the question.