CASTLE OF THE ROSE
CHAPTER FOUR | TONIGHT
This was the true day from hell. The masquerade party had nothing on it. Logan would have much rather been forced to dance for three straight hours with Owen, with Tyler watching and laughing and Elena whispering secrets to Caroline and Bonnie, than have woken up in what appeared to be an unidentified basement.
The first thing that happened when Logan returned to the land of the living was that she smelled mold and mildew. A second later her eyes shot open and she found herself staring straight at Elijah Mikaelson. Logan squeaked automatically and went to move backward, but her back was already against a wall.
"Don't be afraid," said Elijah. He had shaken her awake, Logan realized; now he released her shoulder and stood back. "I will not harm you."
"So says the man who literally slapped someone's head off," said Logan, before she realized she was saying it aloud. She immediately looked up at Elijah with a bit of a wince. It was quite dark down here, in what Logan had to assume was the cellar, but she managed to make out what she thought might have been a mildly amused expression.
Then again, she had been the one hallucinating doubles, so she probably shouldn't trust anything she thought right now. "In all seriousness," said Elijah, putting his hands into the pockets of his dress pants, "what is wrong with you?"
Logan sighed. She reached up and rubbed her eyes, and then put her hand back to help herself climb to her feet. "Would you like that list alphabetically or chronologically?" Judging by the look Elijah gave her he was not amused. "I don't know," Logan admitted. "My best guess is a concussion." She frowned and reached up to feel the back of her head. After a few seconds she found a sizable bump.
That was interesting, at least. Logan had certainly had migraines, but she'd never had a concussion before. "Here," said Elijah. Logan watched him in a mixture of curiosity and apprehension as he lifted his own wrist to his mouth and bit into it. Then he held it out toward her with expectancy. "If you drink my blood, it will heal you," Elijah explained. "Go on."
"Um, thanks for the offer," said Logan, "but I think I'd rather suffer." Elijah raised his eyebrows. "I mean—I haven't eaten anything since yesterday and migraines make me throw up, so I really don't think the struggle of getting it down is worth it."
Elijah studied her briefly. "If you're sure," he said after a moment. Logan nodded, and then reached up to press her palm against her right temple. Elijah watched this movement and then stepped back. "Come on," he said, holding out his arm toward her. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me for the time being."
"What happened to Elena?" asked Logan, as she reached out to thread her arm through Elijah's. He began to lead the way back toward, presumably, the cellar exit.
"She was rescued," said Elijah shortly. He glanced over at Logan, who was struggling to decide what to make of this information. "It seems they had forgotten about you, or perhaps did not look hard enough."
Logan stifled a sigh. Figures, she thought. She looked down as she and Elijah reached a flight of stone steps to watch where she put her feet. She wondered if it was Stefan and Damon who had come to Elena's rescue, to save the day for the girl that mattered and was in the loop. She also wondered if her mother had realized that she was missing yet.
This was downright depressing. The thought prompted Logan to realize that she had missed her usual medication this morning. That made her frown. Tanya, her psychiatrist, told her to make sure she had a steady supply of her antidepressants; when Logan was off them for longer than one or two days, she plummeted downward. Not to mention her Claritin.
As if to remind her that she had allergies, Logan sneezed. Then she sniffed and, in rapid succession, almost tripped, leaned heavily on Elijah, regained her balance, and moved up to the next stair. "Sorry," Logan mumbled, tightening her grip on Elijah's arm.
"No apology necessary," said Elijah politely.
Logan could not fathom this guy. He slapped off men's heads and kidnapped teenaged girls, but he was polite and had just offered his own blood to save Logan from a concussion. Personally Logan felt she would have only offered her blood if it was a life or death situation. "Right," was all Logan said.
The two emerged into chilly night air in a few minutes. Elijah led the way up out of the cellar and didn't even pause to close the back doors to it before starting to walk back around the ancient house. Logan wanted to look around, but it was hard enough to see already, and she was fairly certain her heels were about to slip in the grass. Either that or her ankles would give out, having had absolutely enough of these shoes.
Logan decided to think of this as an initiation for any further suffering to come. Bad math test? Try wearing three-inch heels for two days straight. She snickered to herself at the thought. Elijah cast her a curious glance, but Logan looked ahead rather than explain to him that she amused herself consistently with her own wit.
Ugh—and it really was cold out, too. Logan didn't realize she was huddling closer to Elijah until he asked with a trace of amusement, "Cold?"
"Maybe," said Logan.
"We're not far from my car," said Elijah. "I'll have an extra jacket there."
Oh, well. Maybe he wasn't so gentlemanly after all. Perhaps he would be in prince mode, once he'd gotten out of this beastly phase of his. Logan rolled her eyes at herself; she had no clue what she was thinking about anymore.
Elijah's car was small and black. Logan couldn't make out much more of it. She thought it might have been a Honda or a Lincoln. "You should probably lie down in the back," Elijah advised as they approached the car.
"Okay," said Logan. They both paused, and Elijah dug his car keys out of his pocket. "Um, can I ask where we're going to go?"
"Mystic Falls, eventually," said Elijah with a slight sigh. Logan let out a breath, too, but this one was in relief. "I'll have to make a stop or two first." He audibly unlocked his car. "Can you stand on your own?" Elijah asked, looking over at Logan.
Logan glanced back at him. Oh, but he was handsome, particularly in the moonlight. She wanted to run her hand through his hair. "Yeah," said Logan, quickly turning back toward the car and reaching up to knuckle her temple. Man, she was really losing it.
Elijah released her arm and stepped forward to swing open the door to the backseat. "I think I have an icepack," he said. "There's a cooler on the floor back here." He leaned in to shift a few unidentified items around; a moment later he leaned back out, holding a black blazer.
He turned and extended it out to Logan, who took it and said, "Thanks." She slipped into it and tried not to think about the fact that it smelled good. She blamed her current high-running hormones on her lack of medication and sustenance.
After a good bit of shuffling around, Logan sat down in the backseat and leaned over to rummage through Elijah's cooler. He slammed the door to the back shut and walked around the car to open the driver's side and climb in. "We'll be driving for about forty-five minutes before we reach the hotel," said Elijah as he turned on the car.
"Hotel?" echoed Logan stupidly. She found what definitely looked like a bag of blood in the cooler and quickly moved her hand.
"I was not planning to sleep while driving," said Elijah, with a hint of dry humor.
Logan rolled her eyes and dug her hand back into the cooler. She finally came up with the icepack Elijah had been referring to. "I don't know," she muttered as she located a water bottle. "For all I know vampires don't need sleep. Aren't you nocturnal?" Logan jammed the cooler shut and then shot upright, while she fairly slapped the icepack to her head. "Do you sparkle in the sun, or does it kill you?"
Elijah sighed. He turned around, putting a hand on the shoulder of the seat in front of Logan, and glanced through the back windshield; Logan shifted away from his hand, which was rather close to her face. "Did your friends never inform you?" he asked.
"I am well and truly out of the loop," said Logan, as they backed out of the makeshift dirt drive. She realized she hadn't put her seatbelt on when she lurched forward; she shoved herself backward, propping her hand against the passenger's seat in front of her, and then used her free hand to buckle the seatbelt.
"Evidently so," remarked Elijah. He turned back around and shifted gears before starting forward again.
For a minute Logan thought he just wasn't going to answer. She pouted during this minute and turned to watch the dark landscape go by the window. Logan couldn't make out much, just bits and pieces of passing starry sky through rustling treetops. "Vampires," said Elijah, after a few silent minutes had passed, "do not sparkle."
"Thank God," whispered Logan.
If Elijah had heard her he didn't mention it. "Sunlight burns us," he continued. "It is the reaction that prompted the rumor about being nocturnal, as vampires walked in shadows for centuries."
"How did they stop?" asked Logan curiously.
"Witches determined spells they could use on talismans," Elijah explained. "For example, there are daylight rings, or bracelets."
Logan was tempted to ask what he had, but she decided against it. She was probably lucky he wasn't slapping her head from her neck. She leaned back and managed to balance the icepack between the lump on the back of her head and the headrest; then she used her hands to drink about half of the water bottle.
When she was finished, she screwed the cap back onto the bottle and stuck it between her thighs. Then she wiggled around to press the icepack against the back of her head again.
Logan sat there in the back of the quiet car, watching barely distinguishable trees pass by. She started to chew the inside of her cheek; then she realized that she didn't want to accidentally make herself bleed with a vampire driving and quickly stopped. She checked to make sure Elijah was paying attention to the road before struggling to lift her legs up and work her stupid heels off her feet.
Once they were off she tossed them aside. There was a duffel bag on the backseat beside her. Logan glanced over at it and considered opening it. She was really going to get bored just sitting back here, icing her head and doing absolutely nothing.
She started to drum her fingers on her knee. Then she folded her legs up under her like a cat and sort of curled into the car door to rest her head against the cold glass of the window. "Are you British?" Logan asked, when she couldn't stand it anymore.
"No," said Elijah. The vaguely accented way he said it seemed to contest his answer. "You should sleep."
"I don't sleep," said Logan. "Not until at least four."
She watched the back of Elijah's head. It moved a little, like he was starting to tilt it slightly. "You may have to change your habits for this evening," said Elijah. Logan was pretty sure he was being snarky.
"No thanks," said Logan. "I already slept for a few hours."
"That's not very healthy, is it?"
Logan let out a startled laugh. "Sorry," she said somewhat sheepishly a split second later. "But—you're an Original vampire."
"I was human first," said Elijah.
That made Logan feel even stupider. Which was ridiculous, because there was no way anyone could expect her to know these things. Besides, it wasn't Elijah's fault she felt dumb; she wasn't on her antidepressants, her period was impending, her head still hurt, and now she thought her best friends might have actually been her worst enemies.
She leaned forward when she realized she was actually tearing up. Logan adjusted her grip on the icepack and pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand. She prayed to God she would hold it together at least until she was home again. "No more questions?" asked Elijah, to Logan's surprise.
Of course now that she didn't want to talk, he did. And he was clearly running the show here. Logan drew in a slightly shaky breath. "What's a moonstone?"
"A transparent rock that strongly resembles a bar of soap."
Logan spluttered out another laugh. She wished she could have seen Elijah's face; she imagined he was smirking. He didn't seem the type to full-on smile. Logan found herself wondering what it would take to get him there. "And what's the sun and moon curse?"
"Where did you hear that?"
"I think either Rose or Elena said it." Logan rolled her eyes. "Not that I currently trust anything Elena says, anyway."
Elijah sounded mildly amused when he responded. "You can trust her on this one," he said. "For the most part. It has been—widely believed by both vampires and werewolves for a very long time that it is a curse that prevents vampires from walking in the sun and keeps werewolves forcibly turning every full moon."
Logan frowned. Elijah was talking about it like it was a myth, but he'd essentially just confirmed that the moonstone was real. "What is the moonstone actually used for, then?"
"Oh, it is used to break a curse," said Elijah. "Just not that one."
"Does that one not exist?"
"No, it does not."
Logan thought about it. She was strongly tempted to keep this information to herself when she was finally home. Elena had been keeping Stefan's vampirism from her for—she didn't even know how long. Damon's, too, Logan realized.
She realized she was clenching her fist. Logan spread her hand back out on her knee. Unlike most people, Logan had nothing against Twilight; in fact, she enjoyed the first couple of books and films, and she was a bit of a Kristen Stewart fan, though she was not a Bella Swan fan. It was due to this, and how Logan knew Elena knew it, that Logan was really upset.
For Elena, in dating Stefan, could have been righting all of Bella Swan's wrongs that Logan used to complain about in the eighth grade. Elena had probably shared the vampire information with Caroline and Bonnie at once, too. It made Logan further upset that neither Caroline nor Bonnie had thought this important information to share with her.
In fact, Logan thought, balling her hand into a fist again, Elena had never even shared any good makeout information, either! "I am infuriated," Logan declared, punching the back of the passenger's seat in front of her.
"…All right," said Elijah, after a moment.
"It's not all right," Logan argued at once. "Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie have been my best friends since we met in kindergarten. I have been in school with them since we were five. I know all about—Elena getting shoved into cheerleading by her parents and Caroline's insanely awkward first kiss with Ben Jamison and Bonnie's psychic leanings or whatever, which are apparently a thing now."
"And they never told you about vampires," Elijah surmised.
"And they never told me about vampires!" Logan exclaimed, pounding the back of the seat again. Then she leaned forward to rest her forehead against the back of the headrest and sighed noisily. "I can handle this information," Logan whined. "I'm the one that actually liked Twilight."
Elijah snorted. Logan raised her eyebrows to herself and wondered if that was as close as he got to a laugh. "I never did see any of those," said Elijah thoughtfully.
"Well, they're cute," said Logan. "Just—keep it shallow, and don't try to read meaningful things into it. They're enjoyable that way."
"I'll keep that in mind," said Elijah.
Logan huffed to herself, still thinking about Elena. That bitch. She was going to be very angry about this for a very long time. Logan had a tendency to hold grudges. She was still angry with Olivia Conrad for telling Anthony Parkins that she liked him in the seventh grade. "Have you ever met a werewolf?" queried Logan, in a blatant attempt to distract herself.
"Not personally, no," said Elijah. "I have heard, though, that they're starting up again in Mystic Falls."
"Were they extinct?"
"Evidently not."
"Huh," said Logan. She considered for a moment; then she asked, "Do werewolves and vampires hate each other on principle?"
"In a way, yes," answered Elijah. "A werewolf's bite is lethal to a vampire." He paused, and then added with a hint of smugness, "To a normal vampire. An Original is sickened for several hours but will recover."
Logan frowned appreciatively to herself. "You Originals are pretty durable, then."
"That we are," said Elijah.
Logan tried not to think about the sexual comments she could make to this and failed. She was half smirking and half blushing when Elijah asked a few minutes later, "What do you do, if you do not sleep?"
This question did not help to correct her current train of thought. "Crosswords," Logan managed to reply, making sure she only sounded mildly amused. "And word searches. Homework. Projects that aren't due for months." She paused. "I read a lot. And I consider Netflix a very dear, close friend." Logan hesitated again before adding, "A while ago I would drive around, or go to this twenty-four hour diner on the highway. Then animal attacks started happening."
Elijah nodded. Logan watched him out of the corner of her eye. "Animal attacks," he echoed.
"Which were probably vampire attacks," Logan concluded. She heaved a sigh and flopped backward, leaning her head against the headrest again. Then she finally switched hands; her right hand felt frozen solid by the sweating icepack.
"Can you simply not sleep?" asked Elijah.
"Sorta," said Logan evasively. She'd just met the man; there was no way she was going to go into the Freudian details of all her psychological issues with him. Fortunately Elijah seemed to understand this nuance because he didn't press it.
Neither of them said anything for the remainder of the trip. The remainder was only about six or seven minutes; Logan hadn't even realized that much time had passed. She turned to watch the few sights go by as Elijah took an obscure exit ramp to turn into a dinky little town off the highway. It seemed to be made up of a McDonald's, a Trader Joe's, a Wal-Mart, a 7-Eleven, and a Holiday Inn.
Elijah drove straight to the Holiday Inn. Logan dropped the melting icepack into his cooler of blood bags and drank the rest of the water bottle as he pulled into the parking lot. As Elijah parked the car by the side of the building, in front of a row of neatly-trimmed bushes and windows with closed blinds, Logan checked her reflection in her window. She pushed her hand through her hair to make it more suitably messy before deeming it acceptable.
Elijah climbed out of the driver's seat as Logan struggled out of the backseat. Once she was standing in her bare feet on the cold asphalt she reached back in to pluck up her shoes. She would have been fine walking in without the shoes, but she was pretty sure no shoes no shirt no service was probably a thing at this fine establishment.
Her feet protested as Logan shoved them back into her stupid wedge heels. When she had completed this arduous task she slammed the backseat door shut. Elijah was straightening up on the other side of the car, duffel bag slung over his shoulder, cooler in the other hand. He used his free hand to close that door.
Logan followed Elijah along the sidewalk up to the front doors. She glanced up at the mildly cloudy night sky overhead as she did and noted that she could still see Orion—it was the only constellation she knew how to find, due to the Belt. At least that was, in a weird way, somewhat comforting. It was familiar.
The bright lights inside the Holiday Inn felt nearly blinding, particularly with Logan's headache. It wasn't as bad as before, but it was still raging. Logan stopped and squinted down at a few old magazines on a coffee table in the lobby while Elijah checked in at the desk. In what felt like no time at all Elijah and Logan were moving on, walking over to the elevators.
"What floor are we on?" asked Logan, after Elijah punched the call button.
"The third," he said. He glanced over at her and gave her a brief once-over. Well, it was probably supposed to be brief; Logan did notice that his eyes lingered a bit on her legs. "I'm sure I have extra clothes for you to sleep in," Elijah said.
The elevator arrived then. "Yeah, I already said I don't sleep," Logan pointed out. "I will not change habits that have been ingrained for three years because you asked me to with your pretty voice." Elijah smirked as both of them stepped into the empty elevator. Logan turned and hit the button for the third floor. "Anyway, I'll probably wander the halls, like a starving ghost in search of a vending machine."
Elijah's eyes widened almost comically. "I didn't think of that," he said. "I apologize."
"Just give me enough change for a meal and we're even." Sort of. Kidnapping her and forcing her onto a road trip probably made them uneven again. Logan did have to admit, though, that if Elijah hadn't woken her up and gotten her out of that house, she would have had to find her own way home sans cell phone. There might be a couple of detours but at least she knew she'd wind up in Mystic Falls again.
Logan considered this as they arrived at the third floor, and Elijah led the way to their booked room. In a way she was kind of glad that she was with Elijah rather than Elena, Stefan, and Damon. She would have been fourth-wheeling it so hard in that car it wouldn't have been funny. And Elena would have been wheedling and trying to apologize the whole way. Plus, Elijah was an attractive man with a nice voice who actually answered her questions.
For the first time since the day of the masquerade party Logan felt as though she had not received the short end of the stick.
"You can pick which bed you want," said Elijah, once they had located their room and he had unlocked it.
"Okay," said Logan with a shrug. Elijah managed to hold open the door for her with one arm; Logan entered the room and, two feet in, stopped at once to kick off her shoes. Then she bent over to pick them up and resumed padding into the room.
There were indeed—thank God; and Logan really did thank God—two beds. There was an armchair and a tall lamp beside the one on the right. "I'll take that one," said Logan, turning to point at the one closer to the wall and the bathroom. As she saw it Elijah was the one with the supplies; he'd probably want the chair.
Elijah nodded at her and walked over to set his few things down. Logan dropped her shoes onto her bed and turned on her aching heel to walk over into the bathroom to utilize it. She hadn't even realized until then that she hadn't peed since before the masquerade party. She had no clue how she'd been able to go without noticing it for so long.
Well, Logan thought as she washed her hands after using the bathroom, she had been pretty preoccupied. She paused while drying her hands off to consider herself in the mirror. Her hair didn't look half bad, and this was a really cute dress. She reached up to adjust her chest and the strapless bra she was wearing under the dress; then she nodded at herself, thanked God for keeping her safe, and walked back out into the room.
Elijah was standing over his open duffel bag. He glanced up when Logan reentered the room. "We can find a vending machine," he said at once.
"We don't have to," said Logan. "I can just do it." Elijah just looked at her. "Right," said Logan, reaching up to lightly face-palm herself. "How silly of me. I forgot I've been kidnapped." Of course Elijah couldn't trust her not to sprint off and call the police. He didn't know that she was a rational human being—especially not after, Logan was sure, her outburst about Elena's maddening secrets in the car.
And so the odd pair set out to discover. Luckily there were two vending machines at the end of their hallway, along with an ice machine. Logan had thought to grab the ice bucket from their room to bring it with them.
When they reached the vending machines Elijah and Logan switched, so Elijah could fill the bucket with ice and Logan could pick what she wanted out of the machines. She ended up with a stack of junk food, two Gatorades, and a Pepsi. It would be the worst meal she'd had in ages, but it was better than nothing.
"Thanks for this, by the way," said Logan, as the two walked back down the hall.
Elijah gave her a funny look. "I'm not sure I'm worthy of your thanks, Logan."
Logan barely refrained from giggling at the way he said her name. She wished he would say it again. (While kissing her neck, and perhaps pushing her up against a wall.) She really had to stop thinking that way; he was technically her captor. "Well," said Logan, trying not to smile to herself, "you are giving me a ride home, even if it's a roundabout way, and you're actually telling me things that my friends would have kept from me for my own protection, so…"
Elijah glanced at her with a faint smirk. "You're welcome for that part, I suppose," he said, before halting and turning to open the door to their room.
It proceeded to be an uneventful evening. Logan turned on the TV and watched a bad Lifetime movie while Elijah took a shower. He literally brought his car keys and both room keys into the bathroom with him, probably to prevent Logan from attempting some stupid grand escape. When Elijah emerged in a T-shirt and pajama pants with floppy wet hair, Logan hadn't moved an inch from where she'd been sitting cross-legged in the middle of her bed before, though there were more wrappers in front of her now.
Logan tried not to stare at Elijah while he went about—whatever he went about. Ugh, but that hair. She couldn't handle it. "People are stupid," Logan announced when a commercial for Windex came on.
Elijah snorted. "Philosophical."
"I should write a book."
Elijah glanced up at her from where he was currently bent over the cooler. Logan nodded seriously at him; he kind of smirked and turned to walk over and sit down in the armchair, blood bag in hand. Now it was even harder not to stare at him, because it was really weird to see someone just casually sitting there, drinking blood like it was a Capri Sun. "And why are people stupid?" Elijah asked, another commercial later.
"This chick," said Logan, gesturing at the television set with her half-empty Gatorade, "literally only has to talk to this guy, and the problem will be solved. The conflict in this is so flimsy it's not even funny. It's just plain sad."
"May I ask why you're still watching it?"
"The only other thing on is X-Men: Origins. Again." Logan frowned. "And Spongebob."
"Television is illuminating."
Logan glanced at Elijah with increasing amusement. Elijah blinked back at her; he looked a little smirky. "You're funny," Logan told him.
"Thank you," said Elijah. "I think." He finished the blood bag and stood, to cross the room and set it on the desk across from his bed. Logan wondered what he would do with it. She realized it wasn't like he could throw it in the trash can without raising questions—maybe he was going to make a pit stop at a Dumpster.
Logan screwed the cap back onto her Gatorade and turned to swing her legs off her bed. She reached over to pick up the empty wrappers she'd accumulated, stood up, and walked around her bed to throw them in the actual trash can.
When this was done she went in to use the bathroom again; the mirror was still coated in condensation, and the bathroom was still warm. Logan also noted that it smelled like shampoo. She was pleased that it wasn't Axe, because she absolutely hated that stuff.
Logan paused, after washing her hands, to fix her hair again; then she walked back out into the room. "You know," Elijah said when she reentered the bedroom area, "I can compel you to sleep."
"You can what?" asked Logan, as she moved her Gatorades over to the table across from her bed. She threw the empty Pepsi can away.
"Vampires can use compulsion," said Elijah, after a slight pause. Logan glanced toward him. He was probably shocked that she was so in the dark about all of this. "We can—order humans to do what we want."
Logan scoffed. "That's the easy way out," she said.
Elijah looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. "You don't like anything to be easy, do you."
"Well," said Logan, "if everything was easy, we'd all be bored as hell." She raised her half-empty Gatorade bottle in a toast to Elijah, who looked back flatly, unamused.
Logan wiggled back on the bed until she was sitting amongst her various pillows. There she reached forward to pick up the TV remote. She leaned over to set down the Gatorade on the table between the two beds, by the old alarm clock.
In the next second there was a whooshing kind of sound, and Elijah was standing right beside the bed. Logan jumped as Elijah reached out to hold her head, turning it slightly toward him. He looked deeply into her eyes and she stared back stupidly, mesmerized. "You will fall asleep when I tell you," said Elijah. "You will wake when I tell you."
"Okay," said Logan.
Elijah stood there for a second, still holding her head. He had a really nice jawline. Then he released her and stepped back. "Hang on," said Logan, returning to her senses. "What did you just do? What does that mean?"
"Go to sleep," said Elijah.
"I don't—" Logan started; but then she felt awfully tired, more than she ever did, and she shoved the covers out of the way to curl up under them, snuggling into the various pillows at the head of the bed. Something tickled the back of her mind, but she wasn't sure what, and it didn't bother her—she just wanted to sleep…
AUTHOR'S NOTE | Thank you guys so much! :D This is possibly the most reviews I've ever gotten on a chapter of anything! :) I hope you all enjoyed the update! I literally love writing Elijah; he's such a gentleman!
DISCLAIMER | I don't own The Vampire Diaries.
