Disclaimer: I own none of the character of TVD.
A special thank you goes to Angel of Darkness Forever for amazing beta work!
Prologue
One second, she was in Damon's arms after Bonnie tortured her with her witchy powers and now, Elena was laying in a forest surrounded by darkness. The environment wasn't familiar at all to her. She slowly picked herself up, while observing her surroundings more keenly. She heard men shouting in the distance. It seemed as though they were frantically searching for something. She dusted off her dress as much as possible, before turning in the direction she heard most of the voices coming from.
At the moment, Elena decided that it was her best choice of finding help so she started in their direction. But something was strange, they moved a lot faster than humans. This started to look like a not so brilliant idea. Before she could run away, they found her.
Elena counted six, they all wore strange cloth like they were playing dress up for a decade party. After a moment two other joined them. She sensed their slower than human heartbeats and scrunched up her nose is annoyance. Great, a bunch of vampires.
Elena didn't pay attention to the newcomers, while trying to figure out how to get out of the situation.
"You can't run away from us, Katerina." Elena recognized a familiar voice which was deceptively soft and caused a shiver to run down her spine.
Elena turned her gaze toward the man who just spoke and to her astonishment she really saw him, there was no mistaking that charismatic, handsome face. Elijah freaking Mikaelson was standing a few feet away from her with long wavy hair almost reaching his shoulders and the same kind of clothing the other men wore, although his was made of seemingly more expensive material.
She was flabbergasted. She tried to take in every detail about him. Finally, Elena looked directly into his dark brown eyes, when their eyes connected she felt like she was punched in the gut. This Elijah didn't look at her with warmness, and quite frankly, he scared Elena. She was never this afraid of him, not even the first time they met, yet he allured her.
"You got to be kidding me." Elena could only gape before she exclaimed her frustration.
Elijah was watching Katerina intently; his posture tense, his eyes sharp, and his jaw tight as a small, cold smile graced his lips. But something was not right, her reaction was nothing like he thought it would be when they finally caught her. A calculating look took hold of his regal features while his attention turned from her face to take in her more thoroughly; her hair, her attire was completely different than what she wore at dinner, then he noticed her heartbeat which beat with the slow rhythm of a vampire.
Before Elijah could say another word, one of his servants jumped her. She was tackled to the ground. Elijah came out of his stupor and quickly plunged his hand in and tore out his heart through his back. He could not stand disobedience, and he did not give any order of attacking this woman. He was also annoyed that his man couldn't notice that the woman in front of them was a young vampire. There were very few things which disturbed him as much as incompetence and lack of observational skills.
Elena showed the now dead vampire off of her. Suddenly a hand was in front of her, offering to help her stand up. Elena looked up at the owner of said hand to find Elijah's gaze again, it was no longer cruel and cold. Instead, his eyes expressed his curiosity. She put her delicate hand in his larger, calloused one and let him help her up from the moist forest ground.
"Let me introduce myself, I am Elijah." Elijah started in his smooth velvety voice while he waited for the girl before him to do the same.
"Oh, I'm El…" Elena cut herself off, contemplating if she should answer him or not. As her surprise started to wear off and her brain began to function at a normal speed again she considered what she should tell him.
From the state of things, it was obvious that she somehow ended up in the past. Elena remembered a lot of things from the movies she watched with Matt long ago, but if she was correct she didn't have much of a choice in who she could turn to.
Elijah waited patiently for the girl to answer, while he observed from the corner of his eyes his servants behavior. They were confused and tense, not so surprising after he killed their captain. He heard the girl release a sigh that indicated she had come to some kind of decision. Still holding her hand in his, Elijah focused all of his attention back again to her.
"My name is Elena Gilbert."
Elijah brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles gently, his gaze intense. Elena shivered at his actions. The small smile playing at one side of his lips as he straightened himself was not reassuring for her at all, and he still hold onto her hand, making it crystal clear that she wasn't going anywhere.
One of the soldiers decided to approach the couple. His Lord just executed his brother for doing his duty because the wench acted a little strangely. He didn't believe one word leaving Katerina Petrova's mouth.
"My Lord?" He asked while he grabbed Katerina's other wrist tightly.
Elena turned towards the vampire who caught her left wrist, if she was human his grip would have been quite painful but alas, it just annoyed her to no end. Before Elena could wrench out her hand from his grip, she felt Elijah letting her go to seize the man's throat.
"Let go of her." Elijah commanded. His servant reluctantly obeyed and released her.
"But My Lord,…" Before he could finish his complaint Elijah tore out his heart and let him drop to the ground before his feat. He was quite displeased with his men behavior, then he turned his cold gaze to the others.
"I do not recall giving permission to you to question me." Elijah looked each of them in the eyes, none of them able to hold his gaze.
"You have always had a penchant for tearing hearts out." Elena quipped, as she felt her confidence rising.
Elijah turned back towards her, smirking a little. It was obvious that the girl knew about some of his habits. The question was, how much did she really know? Her behavior and the manner she spoke in was also odd, to say the least. He sensed her fear before, but it was too mild. Actually, all of the emotions coming from her were too mild.
"You are not just a vampire though, are you?" Elijah said his thoughts out loud. He cocked his head slightly to the side as he approached her again. "You have abandoned your emotions."
Elena couldn't help it and burst out laughing.
Elijah just looked at the girl, Elena he amended in his mind, confused. He didn't think that he said something funny. At his prompting gaze Elena elaborated, still chuckling a little.
"You said almost exactly the same thing to me before." Elena said with a mischievous smile on her lips.
Elijah quickly analyzed the situation. It was obvious that her appearance was the result of some kind of spell. However, they needed a human doppelganger. He again turned his attention to his men.
"Continue the search for Katerina." Elijah ordered.
Before they could leave, Elena piped in again. "If I were you, I'd look for her in Rose's home."
Elijah saw Trevor tense at her sentence, interesting.
"Another thing Elijah," Elena continued in a slightly vindictive voice. "I wouldn't send Trevor."
Elijah knew that she was telling him the truth. With each word out of her lips, his suspicion about someone betraying them and helping Katerina escape became surer. At her last sentence, he grabbed Trevor, before he could make an attempt to escape, and throw him at two of the vampires to hold him down.
"Take him back." Elijah addressed them, before turning to the remaining two to give them their instructions. "Go to Rose, search her house and the nearby territories."
As Elijah finished his instructions, his men bowed to him before they left at vampire speed.
Elena started to feel slightly uncomfortable as they were left alone. She has always known that Elijah was dangerous, but this Elijah exuded raw power and danger in waves. He reminded her more of the ultimate predator than a gentleman.
As he walked toward Elena, she needed to fight hard to keep from fidgeting under his intense gaze. He invaded her personal space before he stopped.
"It would please me, if you could accompany me to my home." Despite his polite way of asking, Elena recognized an order when she heard one. This could only go in two ways, she was going with him of her own free will, or he would drag her.
Elena frowned as she bit into her lower lip, she didn't like this one bit, but she didn't have much choice. She looked up directly into Elijah's eyes as she answered.
"Alright." Elena shrugged her shoulders and waited for him to start to lead the way.
Elijah slightly narrowed his eyes at her nonchalance and tone, but for the moment leaved the matter alone. He'd have time to correct her behavior when she was under his roof. While he liked a spirited woman, he did not approve of this kind of conduct in his presence.
"This way." Elijah gestured in one direction. "The castle isn't far away." He stated, before placing his right hand at the small of her back to guide her. Elena scowled in annoyance at his touch, which left a tingling feeling even through the layers of her clothes. With a reluctant sigh, she let him lead her away.
