"Four hours in silence. Do you intend on passing the next three the same way?"
His tone was bored, and for just a second Elena felt guilty. But then anger edged it out, and her grip tightened on the steering wheel. She'd been doing a stellar job of ignoring Klaus until now, and she'd managed to avoid his probing questions. Still, the innate attraction that had only intensified since those early dreams before he died... it still plagued her. She couldn't reassure herself that it had more to do with Tatia than herself and his own persistence. But she was determined to try for her own sanity, especially if she were ever going to forgive herself for what just happened.
"You took advantage of me," she said, avoiding his gaze at first, staring straight ahead at the dark road. But there was an indignant breath as he opened his mouth and she lost her resolve to not glance in his direction.
"Excuse me?" He looked incredulous. "Do you truly believe I have that much control over your mind? I'm nothing more than an ordinary man at the moment. It's a flattering notion, but entirely untrue."
"I'm not saying I'm innocent," she allowed. "But you know what feeding brings out in a vampire... you didn't capitalize on that at all?"
"Perhaps a little," he sighed, shaking his head. "But it's not like it took much prodding...you were already teetering on the edge." He bit at the inside corner of his mouth, pouting in a delicious manner as he stared at her. "I'm sorry it troubles you that there's a natural attraction between us that you can't blame on me. It's real, Elena, as much as you don't want it to be." He leaned closer and her posture straightened reflexively. "Don't you wonder what might have happened if I turned you?"
She narrowed her eyes and he chuckled.
"Oh yes, I've heard the legend. Tatia's true love. The invincible pseudo Original warrior who would be created. The only trouble is that Tatia was even more fickle than you. Professing her love to me, to Elijah... probably to the next man who crossed her path. She didn't love Elijah any more than she loved me. It just depended on who was before her at that given moment."
"I would've never fallen for you," she insisted. "You wanted to murder me."
"And then I would have resurrected you. But that's not something you knew, because you didn't come to me first," he countered, and her cheeks reddened as he ran his tongue over his lower lip. "You would have acted as my balance, and all of us would have survived. Our family would be reunited, which is all Elijah has ever wanted."
"I'm not just some carbon copy," she retorted, and an ache pushed through her soul at the repeated mention of her husband. "And Elijah... he loves me."
Her voice cracked, and Klaus winced. "Yes, he does," he said softly. "And yet you still betrayed him for me. You lied to him about me for years, to protect me. So how can you profess that he's your soulmate and that you feel nothing for me?"
"Just because we have this attraction doesn't mean that I would have fallen for you like I did Elijah."
"You can make yourself believe that," he said, staring ahead now, clearly perturbed. "I'm sure you told the Salvatores the same about Elijah at first, when they noticed his fondness for you."
"But I killed you." She gave him a pointed glance.
"And you daggered Elijah. With the intent to kill him." He stared at her. "But I never killed you."
"You would have," she said as she pulled into a twenty four hour gas station. The needle on the gauge was hovering close to "E."
"I could have," he agreed, the emphasis on his change of wording. He saw her ready to step out to fill the tank but he caught her arm. "I've got it."
The jolt as he touched her threw her off guard, and she nodded shakily, trying to avoid his eyes now. He lifted her chin, and she held her breath.
"I could have," he repeated softly. "But I didn't. I spared you."
He leaned forward, his blue eyes flooding her vision as he gently touched his lips to hers.
A sliver of a distant memory blinked through her mind's eye. Elijah and Niklaus, centuries ago dressed in hunters' garb and their hair as long as hers. Human, - she realized, and standing before her.
Tatia - not me.
Niklaus smiled, love tender in his gaze - but Elijah's eyes were dark and lustful as he stared at her. Gooseflesh rose over her skin... Tatia wanted Elijah then as she wanted Klaus now.
It lasted only seconds and Elena tried to keep her breathing controlled, tried not to respond to Klaus's mouth pressing against hers, but as his one hand wrapped into her hair and the other slid along her ribcage, the electricity consumed her. She parted her lips for him, let his tongue lave against hers, brought her hands into his hair and curled her fingers along his neck. She instinctively bit down on his lower lip, and they both moaned as they tasted his blood. She marveled that it wasn't her own, as she'd expected him to be some physical extension of her. It was him, and it was human. He gasped as she ran her tongue along the cut, his eyes closed as she took more. He guided her head down to the crook of his neck, and his throat vibrated against her lips as he spoke.
"I've fallen for you, Elena," he murmured, his hands cradling her head while her teeth pierced his flesh. "And when I'm freed, I want you to turn me."
A shudder ran through her at his admission, her stomach overwhelmed with butterflies, counter thoughts of her Elijah and her turning pulling at the back of her mind. She didn't want to betray him, but she was too weak to resist the magnetic intensity of her attraction to Klaus anymore.
He looked at her expectantly, but her face crumpled, hers and Elijah's memories now passing over her in waves. Klaus sighed, running a hand along her shoulder.
"I'll be back," he said before stepping out of the car.
She rested her forehead on the steering wheel so no one could see her break down into sobs.
I can help you.
She glanced up, startled. It was close, a breath on her neck. But she saw no one owning the whisper that chilled her blood.
She was losing her mind.
oOo
"It's been a long time," Elijah said as they walked into the airport. He stopped at the observation deck, taking in the city he'd left over a century ago. Dawn was just on the horizon.
Katherine and Bonnie both glanced at him curiously, but he barely noticed. He was more consumed with the rush of nostalgia that threatened to suffocate him, being in New Orleans again. The mix of old and new that greeted him was overwhelming. And he was alone. No family by his side. That stung the most. All of these years without them, all lost to Niklaus's hand. And his wife turned to his brother's side, despite the monster that he was. She held a certain fascination with him, but Elijah couldn't believe Klaus actually cared for her. It was all just a ruse to tear at Elijah's soul, to punish him for his own indiscretions with Tatiana.
He frowned. He'd never admitted as much to Elena, but when he thought of the wedge he drove between his brother and Tatia, guilt consumed him. And despite how much Elijah loved Elena, he knew she was nothing more than a pawn at the moment. He'd plucked her from one pair of vengeful dysfunctional brothers just to enravel her with a set that was far worse. She deserved far better.
So many regrets for her, for his brother... he could barely swallow around them all.
"Hey," Bonnie said quietly, her hand gently pulling at his. He looked down, not realizing he was gripping so tightly on the railing. His knuckles were white and his nails had drawn blood from his palms.
"Sorry," he murmured as he pulled a handkerchief from his jacket to wipe at his hands. Memories, that's all."
His lips pursed in a frown, and Katherine stood back with her arms crossed uncomfortably, watching him. He looked at her more carefully, his eye caught by a bead of something trickling down onto her collarbone. He reached forward and she froze. Blood covered his fingers when he pulled them away. They all stared at his hand, horrified and curious. He shoved her hair from her neck, revealing the perfect set of puncture wounds.
"What the hell?" Bonnie muttered, now holding Katherine's hair away to inspect the vampire's skin.
"What is it?" Katherine demanded anxiously.
"You have a vampire bite," Elijah answered, distracted. His senses tingled but he couldn't imagine it was possible.
She wiped her hand along the wound, brows knit together as it came away with blood as well. "But I felt nothing," she said.
Katherine watched, entranced as he brought his fingers to his lips to taste. His face darkened when his suspicions were confirmed.
"Elena's," he whispered.
