Prologue
'Don't marry her, Elijah!'
The words were sudden and they'd tumbled from her lips in an almost graceless turn of events. Her fingers hadn't known what to do, and so she'd taken his hand in hers like she often did. He'd let her, unaware of the request she was going to voice.
How could he know?
For him, she'd always been a kid.
'Don't marry Aunt Katherine, Elijah,' she repeated, her fingers tightening their hold. She was afraid, scared half to death that if she didn't anchor him to herself, he would slip away like the dream one loved but couldn't hold on to once wakefulness approached.
'What is this about, Elena?'
His eyes were restless when he looked at her. No one had or would ever suspect that beneath Elijah Mikaelson's calm façade was a restlessness that was evident in the constant movement of his fingers, his ever moving gaze, and his sardonic smile.
Stillness was not something he appreciated, even though it was the very same thing the world associated him with. In the company of chosen few which did include her by the virtue of association and age, he shed the mantle he wore for the world.
Elijah Mikaelson was…all she'd ever thought about.
'Elena?' he prompted.
'She doesn't deserve you. She never did. Please don't marry her.' It all came out in a single breath as if she couldn't wait to get rid of the words that were poisoning her thoughts.
'She doesn't?' He raised a brow, the perfect picture of curiosity, but she knew. She knew he was bracing himself for her answer. He was a perceptive man, and in between the first time she'd voiced her request to the recent reiteration that he not marry Katherine, he'd understood that this was different than one of her bizarre requests that she was prone to make often.
'When I see you with her, I ache,' she whispered. 'I burn, Elijah, when I see your lips graze her cheeks, her lips and I hurt when you look at her as if she's the sun, the moon, and the stars. The center of your universe.'
'Is this you trying to be funny, Elena?'
'There's nothing funny about the rage that grips my heart when she smiles in return, when she says "I love you". I cry, Elijah. I seethe for I know she does not deserve you. You deserve far better.'
He gently extracted his hand from her hold, his expression one of gentle amusement. 'I appreciate your concern on my behalf, little Elena, but Katherine is all I want. All I need,' he added as an afterthought.
'Why?' she cried. 'Why does she get you? What does she have that others don't?'
He gave her an exasperated look. 'Do you think of me as a prize, Elena? I am but mere a man, and I love Katherine.'
'No, you don't. You don't love Katherine, Elijah,' she countered instantly.
He didn't look amused anymore. 'And how do you know that, Elena? Did I tell you that, or perchance some divine being whispered so in your ears?'
She chose silence for she had no answer, just a belief that he couldn't love Katherine. For if he loved Katherine, then how could he love her? She wanted him to love her.
When Elijah Mikaelson had first stepped inside the Gilbert home, Elena Gilbert had been seven years of age and promptly awestruck by his handsome visage. She'd proclaimed that very instance that she was going to marry him when she grew up.
Her mother had laughed and her dad had been red in face. Aunt Katherine had rolled her eyes and grabbed Elijah a little tighter.
He'd been twenty-four then, the prince of his father's vast business empire, and he'd smiled at her childish naivety.
Perhaps he still thought of her as that child, easily ignored and appeased.
'Elijah?'
'Hmm.'
'Please don't marry her,' she pleaded.
His eyes were thoughtful and curious when they roamed on her face, crinkling slightly at corners. 'What is this really about, Elena?' He frowned.
'I…I love you, Elijah,' she mumbled.
When he looked at her, she saw the pity and amusement in his eyes. 'Love? So, I'm the unfortunate winner of your teenage attention, am I?'
Teenage attention? Her love for Elijah Mikaelson was the lightning that burned her every moment, every second of the day. It was a gale that whipped her heart till she could take no more. It was a river that she found herself drowning in often.
Teenage attentions? He didn't know how feverishly and fervently she loved him. He didn't know the voices in her head that tortured her now and again when she saw Aunt Katherine drag him in some dark corner in parties.
How easily he dismissed her affections! How easy it was for him to belittle what she felt as if age alone was enough to dismiss the magnitude of her feelings.
'Have you ever yearned for someone's touch so bad that you feel like you're starving? Have you ever loved someone so much that it hurts to see them with someone else? Have you ever wanted with a desperation that borders on insanity?' she asked brokenly.
'Have you?'
She laughed, a pitiful sound that was a reminder of what she was willing to do for Elijah.
She sidled up to him, her eyes trained on his face, her body trembling at the prospect of what she was about to do.
She'd never tried to seduce anyone before.
She raised a timid hand to caress his cheek. He moved his face away as if he'd been burned. To see him startled thusly—it gave her strength.
'I want to feel your hands on my skin, your mouth on my lips,' she whispered. He sucked in a sharp breath.
'You come in my dreams, you know,' she informed him, her voice the subtlest cocktail of passion and yearning. 'You come in my dreams and she is not there. I am all you want, and I am all you need. Your fingers glide on my curves and your lips taste the same. You push me in my bed. I sink beneath you—my softness cradling the hard edges of your body.'
She looped her hands around his neck and pressed herself against his chest. He remained unmoving, his breathing steady. If it weren't for the slight tightening of his eyes and the gallop of his heart beneath her palm, she wouldn't have guessed that he was affected.
'When I wake up and realize that all of it was nothing but a dream, I scream. My hands ball into fists as I bury my head in my pillow to suppress the sound of my rage.'
'Are you done?' he spat.
'No, Elijah. I often try to recreate my dreams when I'm awake. Beneath the sheets, in the darkness, my fingers play with my nipples, grazing my breasts to recreate the pleasurable ache of my fantasies. However hard I try, I fail. I let my hands slip inside my knickers, grazing the curls, finding the wet flesh,' she purred.
'Stop this nonsense, Elena,' he said furiously, trying to get away from her.
She tightened her hold, not letting him put even an inch between them.
'Stop it? Oh, Elijah! I let my fingers play with my clit, imagining it's you who is doing so. I let my fingers plunge—'
'Enough,' he roared, pushing her away from himself.
'Why, Elijah? Don't you like my fantasies?' It was an innocent question despite the provocative display she'd put earlier. She was still shaking inside. She didn't know how she'd wrapped herself around him and said all those things. Her face must be red.
'Fantasies? You call it fantasy?' he asked darkly. 'Fantasy, Elena Gilbert, is when I push Katherine into the wall and fuck her till she can't walk straight anymore,' he hissed. 'Fantasy is when Katherine bows her head and kneels at my feet, takes my cock in her mouth and blows me off. Fantasy is when Katherine leaves scratches on my back and I, bruises on her thighs. So, your dreams, little girl, they are not the kind of fantasies I indulge in.'
'So, you like fucking, do you?' she asked hesitantly.
'Oh, I revel in it.' His gaze turned predatorial. He gave her a once over before his lips curved into a smirk. 'You have no idea about the kind of man I am, Elena Gilbert, and maybe it's my own damn fault. Had I been my cold, aloof self, you wouldn't have chosen me to be the winner of your ill-timed, unnecessary affections.'
His words were a slap. In her haste, Elena Gilbert had forgotten why Elijah Mikaelson adored Katherine Gilbert and why they loved each other's company. They were both cruel, cold beings, capable of destroying a person with well-aimed insults and barbs.
In her naivety, Elena had forgotten that Elijah was capable of spewing venom. He was capable of eviscerating her.
'Don't marry her,' she repeated like a broken record.
'Why shouldn't I?'
'She's not who you think she is,' Elena cried.
'For god's sake, Elena,' he snarled. 'Have you stooped so low that you would besmirch the name and character of your own aunt? Do you want me so badly? Am I the prize you covet, Elena Gilbert?'
'Prize? I love you, Elijah. I don't want to possess you. You think you love who she pretends to be, but she's not who she plays when you come around. Please don't do this, Elijah!'
'Daddy's spoiled princess and mommy's darling girl! Is our Elena being naughty?' Katherine's voice came from behind Elijah. When she came in view, Elena wanted to duck her head and slink in the shadows. Aunt Katherine had never liked her, and Elena tried very hard to stay away from her aunt's caustic tongue.
She was decked in a show-stopping dress of black. Curves peeked from beneath the sheer net. The neckline dipped to emphasize her ample décolletage. It framed her hips and then flared in straight lines from below her waist. Her lips were red, eyes smoky and skin like porcelain.
'My, my, Elena! Honing your seducing skills on my man?'
Katherine wound her arms around Elijah, trying to get as close to him as she could.
'Stop lying to him, Aunt Katherine!'
'Lying?' Katherine turned her head partially to look at her, her eyebrows raised in surprise.
'You don't love him. You're just using him.'
'Stop this nonsense, Elena,' Elijah said tightly. 'Why are you humiliating yourself?'
Elena wanted to run to him and drag him away from Katherine. She wanted to shake him and scream at him. Her love for him had made her this way. She was willing to sacrifice her self-worth, her self-respect if she could save him from Aunt Katherine's machinations.
He thought he knew Aunt Katherine.
He didn't know the woman he claimed to fuck.
Her Aunt Katherine was a viper in a human meat-suit. Her greed was insatiable, and she was capable of doing anything to pursue her selfish ends.
Elijah was just a means to an end for Katherine, and he thought what had was love.
'You aren't the only man in her life,' Elena confessed, her voice barely audible.
'What did you just say?' His voice was dangerously even.
'She's cheating on you.'
'You deranged bitch,' Elijah exploded. He shrugged away Katherine's hold and stalked in her direction. His face was contracted in anger, emotions openly displayed. He grabbed her hand and started to drag her away from the gazebo.
'I know you don't believe, but ask her who Trevor is. Ask her why she went to Aruba a few months ago,' she cried, trying to free her hand from his damaging grip.
'Leave the girl be, Elijah,' Katherine drawled from behind them. Elena turned her head and saw Aunt Katherine give her a pitying smile. 'My brother has let her run too wild.'
He was walking with a single-minded focus towards the party. Most people had already left, but few still lingered in hope of something worth gossiping.
'Elijah, please!' she begged, but he didn't slow down and neither did he slack his hold.
She could see her mum and dad. They were talking with Aunt Jenna.
'John! Isobel!'
They turned in the direction of Elijah's voice, surprise coloring their features. Elijah was fuming and she feared what he was going to do in the next few seconds.
'Elijah, is there a reason why you appear so…furious?' her mother asked tentatively.
'Why don't you ask your daughter, Isobel? I believe she will enlighten you what she's been up to that has enraged me so.'
'Elena?' her father prompted.
'I…I told—'
'The girl propositioned Elijah, John,' Katherine purred, ever ready to stir trouble.
'Propositioned? Katherine surely what you say can't be true.' Bewilderment was laced with her mother's tone.
'Why don't you tell your parents what you were telling me, Elena?'
She looked up to see Elijah's mouth twisting in distaste. His face was closed-off and his eyes were unkind. They were eyes of a stranger.
'Elena, love! What's your Aunt Katherine saying?' Her father was smiling slightly as if he thought this was all a big scam she'd cooked up with Elijah and Katherine. She'd had a history of collaborating with Elijah on her much elaborate pranks throughout the years.
This was anything but a prank.
'Your daughter has surely grown-up, John. I believe she was telling me she fantasizes about me in very explicit words,' Elijah delivered cruelly.
She recoiled in horror at his statement. Her eyes still downcast prickled at the prospect of tears, and she made sure to bend her neck even more so that she could obscure her face in shame.
'Elena?'
She didn't want to raise her head and meet her mother's eyes. She didn't want to see disappointment written there. Growing up, Isobel had been her mom and dad when business had taken John away from home for stretches of time.
She'd been the one to teach Elena how to ride a bike, and she'd also been the one who'd baked her favorite muffins in the morning when Elena had demanded them. Isobel had not only taught her how to hold her head high but had also dried her tears when Aunt Katherine had taken a remark or two too far.
She'd been Elena's best friend along with being her mother. She'd talked boys and crushes with Elena along with having serious conversations about sexual safety and responsibility.
'I told you once, didn't I, Isobel, that you spoil this daughter of yours rotten, and that nothing good would ever come out of it? Katherine tut-tutted.
'Elena, love? What's the matter?' It was her father.
Often, she'd been angry with him in her childhood for missing important milestones of her life, but he loved her. Isobel might have been the one to teach her how to ride a bike, but he'd taught her how to race like a streak on the abandoned back roads of Mystic Falls. He'd been the one to encourage her daredevil tendencies. He'd bought her a bike, a sleek silver Ducati that made wind whip her face and fan her hair when she drove it when she'd turned sixteen.
He'd spent his free hours battling her on her Playstation despite Isobel's disapproval.
He was the kind of father people hoped to have, one who would battle the invisible demons beneath her bed, chase away the nightmares, and tell you stories till you fell asleep.
He was the kind of father who would be in the audience with placards to support her in her singing recitals because he knew she was of a nervous disposition when it came to crowds and also that she couldn't hold a note properly. He was the kind of father who would never beat the shit out of her for liking someone the society considered taboo or off limits, unlike Mr. Salvatore.
He was the kind of father who didn't deserve the shit that was going to unfold.
'I told Elijah he shouldn't marry Aunt Katherine,' she uttered in a small voice, head still ducked.
'I won't go into details, John, but your daughter is adamant that she sexually desires me and that she would go to any lengths to sabotage my marriage with Katherine,' Elijah informed her father acerbically.
She wanted the earth to burst open and swallow her in all her shameful glory.
'You did spoil your daughter overtly, John,' Katherine said in a bored voice, her fingers busy in opening the cigarette packet that she always carried on her person.
'Elena? Is this true?' her mother asked.
She couldn't answer; for she would be lying if she said no. Yes, she desired him, but not in the depraved way he was implying. Yes, she'd wound herself around him like a vine and purred filthy suggestions in his ears, but it had been as much for the show as it had been to keep him away from Aunt Katherine.
'I'd never thought a day would come when little Elena would give me reasons to doubt my conduct,' Elijah said cynically.
'Hush, darling! We know you weren't chasing the little bitch's skirts,' Katherine said disinterestedly, blowing the rings of smoke from her mouth.
Elena knew Elijah would never understand. Even if she shouted at the top of her voice and cried herself hoarse, he wouldn't believe Aunt Katherine's guilt. But she had to try.
One last time.
He'd turned away, probably prepared to walk off.
'Don't marry her!' she said desperately. 'Please! Ask her about the baby, Elijah. She's not who you think she is.'
'Enough, Elena!' It was her dad.
'But dad—'
'You've said enough, Elena Catherine Jane. Go to your room this instance!'
'John, we should—'
'I apologize for Elena's behavior tonight, Elijah,' her father said flatly.
'No,' Elena wailed. She ran to Elijah, clung to him. Distressed eyes met the disgusted ones. In them was a plea that the cold eyes didn't want to see, didn't want to understand. He tried to pry her fingers away from his lapels, but she held on.
'She doesn't love you,' Elena choked on her words. 'She loves no part of you; neither did she love the child she accidentally conceived. You've always been the golden goose, the ultimate prize. She'll break your heart, Elijah.'
He shrugged off her hold and pushed her away. She stumbled, but she didn't fall. He started to walk away. She lunged to hold him back and fell to her knees at his feet.
'Please! Elijah, please!'
She couldn't breathe. Her sobs were choking her. She tried to draw breaths, but she couldn't. Her heart was thudding in her chest, the noise ringing in her ears. Her vision was blurring. Was it because of the tears?
He was walking away, Aunt Katherine's arm linked to his. The world was turning. The blackness slowly started encroaching at her vision.
'Elena!'
'Elena!'
Someone was calling her name.
She could see him no more.
So, I'm very late. This is Eva's gift and this time around, I was adamant that I would start posting only when I complete the whole story. And I did it somehow. Completed the whole story that is. So, Eva, I love you. And I'm sorry I couldn't complete and post it on your birthday. Happy birthday, woman! You're one of the most awesome things that has ever happened to me…
And yeah, weekly updates!
Gods own truth, people! Weekly updates 'cause story is all written.