After living for one thousand and thirty nine years, Elijah Mikaelson was hardly an amateur at spotting people who harbored any ill intent towards him. Such as one young woman who had been following him for the past three days, nine hours and…twenty-three minutes.
The coffee in his hand was searing hot, though he found he was not nearly adverse to pain as the humans that surrounded him. He had half considered buying a drink for the woman who was following him before dismissing the idea. He didn't think she knew that he was aware of her following him, and he would prefer to keep it that way.
So, instead, he left the quaint little café with only his drink in hand and continued his leisurely stroll through the small town of Mystic Falls. He did wonder what the girl following him was planning on doing when he let her make her move.
Even if she did manage to overpower him (highly unlikely), unless she knew who he was (improbable), the worst she could do to him was to immobilize him for several short hours. He doubted she even knew who the Originals were. It was rare to hear of his family and he in the vampire community any more, let alone in the hunter's.
Elijah took his first mouthful of coffee as he entered the apartment complex he was staying in. His visit hadn't been planned, and so he had to deal with the only temporary housing the small town had to offer, not owning a residence close enough to the town.
The irony of his situation didn't fail to escape him.
He had gone to a town to deal with several rogue vampires and now he was the one being hunted. Although, he supposed, it would always be that way for his kind. Even the ones who tried to be good would forever be hunted, simply for existing.
Which was why he had to make the effort to clean up and dispose of vampires who had no sense of discretion. Because, despite the fact that it was impossible to kill him, he really did not like being followed and hunted by amateurs who had no idea who they were dealing with.
Elijah's apartment was cold when he entered it. Although it had no real effect on him, he turned up the thermostat, sipping at the coffee in his hand. His next stop was to check his e-mail to see if his contacts had managed to gather any information on, either, the woman following him, or the vampires he was there to control.
Before the page could load, there was a knock at Elijah's door and he took another mouthful of his coffee as he walked to the door. Opening it, he found no one there and was instantly on guard, the small hairs on the back of his neck rising. There was tiny note stuck to the wall opposite his door and, after looking ether way down the hall, he stepped across to read it.
Hello.
Elijah frowned and pulled the post-it from the wall. The hunter. He scoffed and walked back into his apartment, crumpling the post-it and tossing it in the trashcan, locking his door and sliding the bolt across.
"You know," he started, "if you wanted to come into my apartment, all you had to do was ask." Elijah taunted, taking another mouthful of his coffee.
He could hear her heartbeat, thrumming like a mockingbird's. Of course, if he really wanted to, he could find her in one of those heartbeats. But, he didn't want to, he was curious about what her move was going to be. Surely she was aware of the odds, especially now that she had lost any element of surprise.
"I'll admit," he continued, "I wasn't expecting you to be so blasé as to waltz into my home. While I was at the door nonetheless."
He heard her heart speed up and smirked to himself, taking another sip of his coffee before putting down the cardboard cup and slipping off his suit jacket, hanging it on the coat rack. Walking back to his computer, he looked over the e-mail hadn't a chance to read before her distraction and smirked to himself, undoing his cufflinks and rolling up his shirt sleeves.
"It's Elena, isn't it?" Elijah called, hearing her soft curse, he knew she wasn't expecting him to have even noticed her, let alone to know her name. "Well, Elena, why don't you come on out and spare yourself some embarrassment?"
He heard her scoff and smirked to himself, of course he wasn't actually expecting her to take his offer, he was simply curious about her reaction. The sound of a trigger being pulled, though, was unexpected…as was the searing pain that shot through his abdomen as a wooden stake embedded itself there.
Elijah let out an involuntary gasp, though whether the pain or the shock was the cause, he wasn't sure. The shock was his guess, he was mostly numb to the pain after the initial strike.
He didn't think she could shock him anymore than that, but, alas, she did, coming at him from behind with a stake, its target his heart.
Elijah deflected the attack easily enough, allowing her to fight with him for a few minutes, curious about her abilities. She had some skill, but, if he had wanted to kill her, he would have been able to do so without any real struggle, not that that meant much where he was concerned.
After a few moments of fending off her attacks, Elijah grew tired of the repetitive motions and pinned the brunette to the wall, taking the stake from her hand and crushing it in the palm of his hand. Her eyes widened and he smirked at her, pulling the other stake from his stomach and tossing it aside nonchalantly.
"You know, I really liked this shirt."
Only then did she begin to struggle, realizing that she was way out of her depth. Elijah put a stop to it quickly and looked into her eyes, compelling her. "Stop struggling." He hissed.
Elena scoffed. "I'm on vervain, you can't compel me."
Despite the confidence of her words, Elijah could hear the tremor of nervousness hiding behind them and smirked darkly. "I assure you, that's no problem."
He pressed his fingers to a pressure point on Elena's neck, sending her world into darkness and holding her up as she slumped forward, her head lolling onto his shoulder.