Elijah

...you can let them think you fell...

She opened the door quietly and sneaked into the darkened room. They agreed to meet in a nearby town, just in case Elijah needed to intervene.

Of course, she got off easily - at least he hoped so, since she didn't call him. He was not sure if she would anyway, she was very independent, regardless of what happens.

He saw her looking around, finding him before making any moves from the door. She moved carefully, but didn't seem to hide anything precious. He hoped that her convincing acting talents made this impression, not the failure of the excursion.

When they found the eye-contact, he asked her silently if she succeeded and she grinned and nodded. They left separately, in half an hour, heading to their final meeting point.

-x-x-

This time Elijah arrived later to their hotel room. He slowly approached Katerina from behind and wrapped her in his arms. She must have noticed him earlier, because she leaned in without hesitation.

"I suppose everything went as planned," he murmured.

"Sort of - I took care of everything. It wasn't hard at all, they never suspected anything."

"Do they know now? How did they react?"

"I don't know. I didn't wait to see. I thought you wouldn't like me to get caught."

"I wouldn't. So are you saying they have no idea about your involvement?" he inquired.

"Did I say that? Probably they know it was me, but I took care of it!" She sounded annoyed, but why? Was she hiding anything?

"I think I won't get a straight answer regarding the details," he said, "so I won't ask, but I am curious," he hinted.

"Be then," she shrugged. He felt when her body stiffened merely for a moment. She relaxed so fast that had he believed in coincidences, he would have thought he only imagined it. However, his instincts whispered it was important, but shouldn't be mentioned.

To distract her - well, both of them, - he kissed her.

"For our first mutual success" he told smiling.

"Aren't we good together?" she flirted. She seemed more relaxed now, so he dared to ask:

"So, where is the cure now? May I see it?"

"Don't you believe me?" she teased.

"I am just academically curious. I have never actually seen it," he explained.

"It's in a safe place," she smiled before leading his hands to her breasts. He laughed. Seriously, there? This was just so... childish? ...punk? ...crass? He couldn't choose the perfect word to describe it. Putting something precious in the bras was not usually acceptable in the society in his opinion, only among outsiders. Were her morals this low? Was this a joke for her?

"But the original package is here," she gave him an ancient looking box.

"Show me the cure," he asked and started to undress her, but she jumped back.

"Hey, pervy, I'm shy!" she pushed him away playfully, her eyes laughing. Still, when he tried to catch her, she escaped - clearly toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Looking for a safer place now that you know this one."

"Why don't you leave it here where we can guard and reach it anytime?"

She shook her head with utter disbelief and disappeared. He got the message: I don't trust you so much. He needed to find another way to put his hand on the cure.

-x-x-

After inspecting the situation from several different approach, he concluded that it was a bit sad. He promised her everything she could ever wish for, yet it took her hours to hide something from her partner. Something that they acquired together, by the way. She was clearly paranoid, and Elijah got really angry at her. Right, he did have a secret plan which he didn't and wasn't going to tell her. That's why he made everything the way he did usually: he was caring, he acted as in love, she got the whole package of seduction. Their history together was not spotless, but he never actually betrayed her and his reputation should have been in his favor. Wasn't that enough for her to trust him? He was positive that he gave her no reason to doubt him.

Still, she had her doubts, just because she always had.

Where is she, he wondered. Hours later, she burst into the room, practically dancing. She was in a crazy good mood - clearly because she thought she outsmarted him, but it was only a battle, not the war.

"Welcome back, Katerina, I see you enjoyed your time out," he commented, trying to downplay the difference in their current frame of mind.

"Yes, see!" She opened the ancient box and pushed it toward him. "I made some fake ones, they look exactly like The Cure!"

He saw three big red pills - so that's how it looks like, that's what he should look for, he thought.

"And the original?"

"Don't worry, I took care of it," she reassured him, but she didn't know it was the last thing he wanted to hear. If Elijah was involved in a business, he preferred to be well-informed. He was a natural-born leader, so the sentence 'I took care of it', meaning 'behind your back' made him seeing red.

Now, he needed patience, and he had to swallow that Katerina would never say a word about certain things.

"I was away for so long because I had the idea to make some lookalike. Good idea, don't you think?" He nodded absently. "So I made three. I will keep one here, hidden around us, but leave the other two somewhere else. Maybe they'll find it. I'm dying to see Elena's face, when she takes one of them and realize it didn't work!" she laughed.

"Why do you hate her so much?" he asked, truly curious.

"You can't be serious! I hate her, accept it. I won't let you play Dr. Phil."

"Sorry. By the way, I like this idea. At first, I feared that you were going to give them to Klaus - he would never buy this trick."

"I know, and I wish them to get a fake before we announce them I have the real. It raises its value, you know."

He admired how her mind worked on such a complicated way, but she seemed to work herself through every possibility as she continued to detail her plans. Elijah only watched her, the beautiful yet evil girl, his previous anger slowly drifting away. How did they get so far? Why has he become so nostalgic recently?

-x-x-

He often needed to remind himself that it was only an act; their relationship could only exist in a non-existing reality. Still, while they were walking around in a shopping center because Katerina enjoyed window shopping, or when they went out together for a hunt - he felt he found his place. He liked to care about someone and Katerina let him do it every day. He liked being the man who gave everything for the beloved girl and Katerina made it easy for him. He liked to walk past the streets with a woman who got all the attention, but didn't even notice, because she was only interested in him.

He would like to believe in love, but being an Original vampire who also loved to keep everything under his control - he simply couldn't afford it. He was powerful. He had to be powerful, considering his uncountable enemy. And most of all, he loved to be powerful. He was aware of the danger a pretty smile meant to men (himself not excepted), but during a thousand years, he learnt to keep his focus tight.

On a hunt, when they were waiting for the right victim, he mentioned the cure again.

"So, since I didn't get to see the original cure, may I ask how did you make the fakes?"

"Of course, I may also answer," she winked. "It's made of some vervain added to thick blood. I found this doctor nearby who is into the dark business of blood doping sportsmen. He has plenty of blood bags, full of thicker-than-average blood, and a lot of fascinating machines, like a blood-kitchen. It's a waste not to drink all, but it was the best ingredient for the fake cures. After I mixed them, I dried them in a handicraft's oven, that's how they keep their shapes."

"I see. Do you think anyone will notice the difference?"

"I'm the only one who saw the real one," she announced. "I don't know how it's supposed to work, but they won't be surprised if it burns like hell and knocks them out for a while. Turning human can be a very long and painful process, can't it?"

"Why are you hiding it from me?" he demanded, perhaps a bit too harshly.

She looked confused by such a straight question. "Because the less people know the safer the place is," she explained the obvious.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked softening his voice, trying to wake up her guilt, but she was too stubborn.

"Elijah... Don't you trust me?" She changed her mind in the middle of the sentence and turned offensive.

"Sorry. I only thought..."

"I thought we came here to feed." Her whole demeanor turned cold, so he changed the subject.

"Men or women? Which one do you prefer generally?" he asked. She relaxed, finally, her face lighting up, her eyes shining calmly.

"Women."

"Really? Why?"

"Because they taste good, smell better and are smaller so I can drink easier. Have you ever fed from someone twice your size? Kinda awkward."

"You have the point, even if I haven't met many female vampires who preferred women."

"Yes, because men are easier to catch - they are following you anywhere after a suggestive smile. Women are harder to convince, and I have to be careful with compulsion too, because if someone sees me and my meal together, well, they are quite often staring, which makes my dining project unnecessarily difficult. So, with women I have to be less obvious, and I rarely bother hiding for a fast snack. But now you're here and I let you do the dirty work."

"Any other preferences?" he raised one eyebrow mockingly.

"A tiny, slim smoker for tonight," she ordered, "but no drugs. I want to stay sober."

"Do you like smokers too?" He was surprised.

"Yes, you too?"

"Oh, the spicy, smoky taste of their blood after a cigarette... My favorites are heavy smokers, but only for dessert - draining one dead makes me a bit... you know, it's strong," he finished awkwardly. He wanted to maintain some distance from Katerina, and sharing his secret pleasures with her is everything but distance.

"Yes," she smiled knowingly, "it can hit you in the head. That's why I only drink from light smokers. Anything hardcore is far away from me."

She seemed to be speaking seriously, and he was shocked. All thoughts of distance forgotten, he needed to ask if...

"Are you saying you prefer boring, ordinary stuffs?" She nodded. "In every meaning, all your life?" She nodded again. "I hardly believe..."

In fact, he didn't believe at all.

"I only pretend, because that's the best way to get on with my life," she sighed. She sounded sad and honest, and for a minute he dreamt about her being the same girl he got to know ages ago and him being the same man he had been even before, with a simple life and simple problems... but right now, he had to think of her as a tool of his superior purpose which Kol defined.

And Kol was dead and dead men's words put a harder weight on the shoulders - more if they died for the common purpose.

Katerina was still alive and considering her survival skills, she would be for a while.

"I bring you a light smoker, and since I always choose loners; I'll be back in a minute."

He approached a nearby pub, and when he found the perfect dinner, Elijah threw himself into action.

"Hey, don't you feel yourself in danger in these dark streets in the middle of the night?"

The dreamy smile froze off of the girl's face and she seemed truly frightened, but when her gaze met Elijah's, she relaxed and followed him obediently.

"You didn't make it too complicated," Katerina commented.

"Why would I? After a thousand years, I have run out of ideas. Have a meal without risks, and when I crash into someone interesting, I make a great hunt, but for the common folk... They are not at all challenging." She rolled her eyes.

"And you prefer..."

"Great hunts, but they are rare. I'm not a newbie, there are not many things I have never tried."

"We're still talking about hunting? Or you mean your whole life?"

"You choose," he smirked. He was really interested in what she makes out of this quote. He hoped she would have her ideas (despite her previous comment about liking simplicity, which annoyingly got stuck in his mind).

Their dinner was satisfying, but when he finished, Katerina didn't stop. She drained the poor girl dry.

"You always leave a trail of dead bodies after you, don't you?" he asked.

"Yes, why not?" she shrugged. He didn't like the answer though, but again, they were not a real couple, so he had no right to judge her.

"What would you say if I ask you to show the fake cure in action?" he asked instead. Her face darkened - it was a dangerous topic, but he wanted to get over it.

"Why? It's only temporary poison."

"Perhaps, but since you don't let me get close to the original, I think I'm allowed to be familiar with the fake," he answered. Something for something, isn't it? She did not appreciate his reasoning.

"Why can't you leave it alone? It's my project, you've barely gotten involved!"

"I'm careful."

"Alright. Either you test it on yourself, or bring me a vampire and I'll show you. I wonder how you'll find a vampire in this huge city, so..." she murmured the last words. If she hoped he would decline testing it on himself, she would be in for a disappointment.

He smirked. "Their nest must be around a homeless shelter or a hospital. From where should I bring one?"

She gasped. "Disgusting! How can they live there?"

"No way, I can't believe you didn't know that!" He was quite surprised.

"I didn't need to. I was hiding from Klaus, which also means each and every one of his possible informers, and when I needed information, I had Pearl and her daughter to ask around. I'm the one who can't believe you are visiting any of these places!"

"Only in real urgency, since I always had associates to interrogate them, but it will do for tonight. Which one?"

She hesitated. "Hospital."

"With a lot of sick people?" he teased.

"I don't wanna think about it! It's only an experiment, let's get over it!"

Watching Katerina's easy mood, Elijah wanted the same: get over the business, get some joy... or maybe relax now. He had to force himself to stay focused, he couldn't give up since he already got so far.