Chapter 3

Broken things

When Elijah opened his eyes, he was only aware of the pain. His head hurt. How much had he drunk last night? Clearly more than enough. Well, at least he had made it back to his hotel suite. The bedroom was dark and quiet and the bed felt very pleasant. He was lying naked under the covers and he was just about to go back to sleep when he realized that he wasn't alone.

There was a woman lying beside him. Her curly hair was wrapped around his arm and her thigh rested between his. What… Who was this woman? He took a deep, slow breath and looked at her. She was in a deep sleep; her chest was rising and falling slowly as she breathed. Cautiously he moved his hand to touch the side of her face. Her cheek was smooth and warm, sleep-pinked. She looked quite young.

Had he met her in a bar or…? Suddenly he remembered. She had come to him last night, asking for his help. He had no idea why she needed his help; he couldn't recall her telling him that. How had she ended up here, in his bed? For some reason he had brought her to his suite with him. He remembered thinking that she looked a little bit like Hayley. At some point he had kissed her. After that…nothing.

Great. This was just perfect. Damn it… What had he done? He was aware when she first opened her eyes and sighed sleepily. He made no quick movements, trying not to startle her. She blinked her brown eyes few times before she looked at him.

"Good morning," she said smiling. Her smile didn't seem genuine, she looked nervous. What the hell had happened last night?

"Good morning," he replied as calmly as he could.

An awkward silence followed his words, but she still tried bravely to keep the smile on her face.

"Can I get you something to drink?" she asked. "Or do you want a cup of coffee? I can go and get you one…"

"That won't be necessary, thank you," he cut in. "I would like to know what exactly happened last night?"

Her eyes widened.

"Oh, it was the most wonderful night of my life, you were amazing."

Oh no…

"So you and I…?"

"Yeah. "

This couldn't be happening.

"Why?" he asked. "I can't imagine that I would have been very charming last night, why on Earth did you want to sleep with me?"

Her eyes widened again.

"You…you don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

She blinked nervously.

"You agreed to help me and I promised to repay you."

Dear lord, this was just getting worse.

"This wasn't consensual?"

"It was," she assured quickly. "I wanted this. It was great. You were great." She paused and kissed his cheek. "The best night of my life."

Elijah was quiet for a long while; he was desperately trying to gather his thoughts. How had this happened?

"So," he finally managed to say. "What exactly did I agree to do?"

"I… You agreed to let me stay with you and tell the other vampires that I belong to you."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

A flush was rising in her cheeks.

"I've had problems with some other vampires and I really need some help."

"Why did you come to me?"

She hesitated for a brief moment before replying.

"Because you're an Original. Stronger than other vampires."

"How do you know this?"

"I…I had a friend who tried to help me. He was also a vampire and he told me about you."

"Hmm, what happened to him?"

"He died," she replied quietly.

"I'm sorry."

She didn't reply, he could see the pain in her eyes.

"So, basically what you're asking from me is protection?" he stated after a moment of silence.

She nodded.

"Yeah."

"Who are these vampires and why do they want to hurt you?"

She swallowed.

"They… They're old vampires. I don't know what they want from me."

Elijah frowned.

"You don't know?"

"No."

Elijah didn't believe that, but he could see that the girl was really afraid. And apparently quite desperate. He felt guilty for taking advantage of her, even though he couldn't remember anything about it.

"Alright," he stated. "If we made an agreement, I will respect it."

She looked at him cautiously.

"You will?"

"Of course. I'm a man of my word."

"Thank you. Thank you so much, you won't regret this," she assured and handed him her wrist. "Here, please, you must be hungry."

He was, but he wasn't going to feed from her.

"Perhaps later," he replied and got into a sitting position. "I believe I'll call the room service, would you like some breakfast?"

Judging by her growling stomach, she was hungry as well.

"Yeah, that would be great, thank you."

She smiled at him and this time her smile was genuine. She seemed beyond relieved, like a heavy burden would have just been lifted off her shoulders. He was just about to pick up the phone whe he realized something.

"Forgive me, but I have to ask… What was your name?"

"Brinley," she replied. "Most people just call me Brin."

"Alright, it's nice to meet you, Brin."

"You too."

She curled up and smiled sleepily as he got up.

"You can go back to sleep if you're still tired," he stated.

"No, no, I'll get up. I just need a moment…."

She sighed tiredly and fell asleep. He crossed his arms and observed her face. He guessed that it had been a long while since she had been able to sleep peacefully. Apparently she felt that she was safe here. Safe from these "old vampires". Obviously she hadn't told him everything, but right now he was willing to let that slide. She looked nothing but fragile and defenseless lying there. Niklaus had sometimes laughed that Elijah had a thing for broken things. Perhaps that was true. All he knew was that he was going to help this girl.