"What did you do with Vincent?" Eloise asked quietly the moment I stepped behind her in the mirror. She was taking Rebekah's diamonds out of her ears and placing them carefully on the vanity. I set my hands on either side of her on the vanity, boxing her in between the furniture and my arms.

"He's downstairs for safe keeping," I told her quietly. I breathed in her scent where it was thickest - her neck and hair. Her warm, floral scent comforted me.

"Marcel?" she asked.

I sighed. "The same."

We locked eyes in the mirror, and struck as I was by her beauty, I was struck more by the compassion in her eyes.

"You won't leave them there for long, will you?" she asked. When I didn't answer, she turned to face me, her eyes soft. "Klaus?"

The power of my name on her lips was too much.

"Whatever you wish," I promised quietly. Eloise smiled, and rewarded me with a kiss.

I couldn't help my wandering, ravenous hands as they roamed Eloise's silk-clad body.

"Klaus," she whispered against my lips. "Not here."

She was already half-naked before me, her dress had fallen to reveal her chest and torso to me. Her chest was heaving with her breaths, but her eyes were earnest. Hearing my siblings and Hayley shuffling around downstairs, I understood her hesitation.

"I have to go home to feed the cat. Let's come back here tomorrow," she offered.

I helped her tie the dress back into place, and we stole away downstairs to the garage. I loaded Eloise into the car and began the short drive to her home.

At the house, the cat meowed a complaint when we entered. Eloise hushed him and dumped food into his bowl. She hurried to her bedroom, untying the dress as she walked. When she re-emerged, she was clad only in an oversized t-shirt. Her long dark hair was scooped up into a high ponytail, and she was wiping the makeup from her face.

"Feels like a mask," she shrugged as I watched her. I smiled, preferring the natural face beneath. Though she was beautiful in a nice dress and made up, it was the girl beneath the glitter I liked.

"You were incredible tonight," I told her softly as she collapsed on the little sofa. She rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Hardly," she said quietly, patting the spot next to her. She couldn't accept compliments, no matter how sincere.

"I've never seen you angry before," I stated, changing topics. Eloise blushed, twisting her fingers together.

"It's not something that happens often," she explained. "Most of the time I'm pretty even-tempered."

"What were you thinking?" I asked, brushing my hands along her arms as I curled around her on the sofa. She leaned into my embrace, folding into my arms like she was meant to.

"I don't think I was," she murmured, her eyes unfocused. Her soft hands stroked mine absentmindedly. "My feelings were just overpowering my body. I was so angry at Vincent for being so deceitful."

"You knew he was; you told me yourself."

Eloise hesitated and cocked her head to the side. "I hoped he wasn't." Her sad pause called for a subject change.

"Let's talk about something else," I suggested, toying with the hem of her t-shirt. Her answering smile stoked the fire in me. "We could...talk about how beautiful you are...or how smart...or..."

"Klaus," she giggled as I kissed up her neck.

"You didn't want to around my family, and I understand that," I murmured in her ear. "But we're here now."

"They asked you to stay away from me," she whispered. "Even Marcel." Though she stated it, there was a question lingering in her words. I sighed.

"As I'm sure you know, I don't have a spotless record concerning women," I explained. Eloise's eyes were earnest.

"If your family is concerned about you breaking my heart, I can see their worry. But you would not be the first, and you would not be the first I hurt either. We have...many odds stacked against us. But I would not be with you if I did not have strong feelings for you." Eloise hesitated, and her hands on my neck tugged lightly on the ends of my hair. She pulled me closer for a long, lingering kiss. "I'm in this if you are. And if you aren't, I - ."

I cut her off with a long, deep kiss. My arms curled around her body, pulling her even closer on the sofa. She pulled herself into my lap, facing me, straddling me. I couldn't get her closer, and still she was too far from me.

"I'm in," I told her with conviction. I tangled my hands in her long hair. I pulled just hard enough to tug her head gently back to kiss her lightly on her neck. My jaw ached, desiring her blood, but my mind and chest turned at the thought. Eloise was not food. I kissed her neck, loving that sweet spot where her scent was strong and loving the soft sounds she made in response to my lips.

Eloise moaned in desire and I answered her moan with another kiss. Her hands roamed around my head, my neck, my face. Finally, her hands found my chest and the shirt separating my skin from hers. She pulled back just enough to tug hard and pop the buttons off my shirt as she undressed me from the waist up. I chuckled at her urgency.

"Easy, love," I murmured in her ear. "I'm right here." Eloise pulled her shirt off and pressed herself closer to me.

"Klaus," she whispered breathlessly as I flipped her down on the sofa.


The morning sun filtered in through Eloise's windows. It gave the living room a warm glow. It was hard to believe we were trying to conquer an evil spirit when the house was bathed in warm light.

Eloise was twisted beneath me on the cramped sofa. We hadn't even made it to her bedroom the previous night. I brushed her hair from her face and watched her stir slightly before snuggling deeper into the sofa.

My phone, forever inopportune, rang somewhere on the floor. I snatched it up and answered it before it could wake her and wandered into the kitchen to talk.

"What?" I snarled.

"Are you quite finished with your...activities for now?" Elijah asked with an exasperated sigh. "There is magic to be done, and you are monopolizing one of our witches. As it turns out, you are monopolizing the witch that Freya needs to confer with for a spell."

"She's sleeping; I am not monopolizing."

"We're expecting you both no later than noon." Elijah hung up. I glanced at the time on Eloise's stove. We had 3 hours before our presence was required.

Twenty minutes later, a beautiful, naked witch was watching me make her breakfast. She leaned on the countertop, arms crossed, and rewarded me with a grin over her coffee.

"I didn't know you cooked," she said in laughter.

"I can do many things," I said as I flipped eggs. She liked them over medium. "I have been around for a thousand years. You pick up on things."

"Maybe I'm surprised you cook for women the morning after," she said with a light shrug.

"I don't do that," I told her. Her brows pinched together. I smirked. "But I do cook for my girlfriend."

Eloise slipped behind me and spread her fingers across my torso. She leaned up on tiptoe to kiss my cheek and tug on my earlobe with her teeth.

"I'm not really hungry for eggs..."