Chapter 10

Alaric took a key from his pocket and unlocked a desk drawer. From there he took out a semiautomatic pistol. He checked to see how many rounds were in it before heading for the door.

"Are you coming, Elijah"?

"I do not think I should. I may not be a vampire now."

"Oh, really? Then in that case, stay here. We need to talk, but not now," the man said and he hurried out the door to the hall.

Elijah stood there for a long moment, realizing that he had not tested his skin to see if he was a vampire or not. Perhaps he had assumed too much and things were different this time. He looked in the top drawer of Alaric's desk and found a metal letter-opener. With the sharp point, he cut the palm of his left hand. Blood welled up. Not wanting to bleed onto his clothes or the carpet, he licked the blood from his hand. The bleeding continued and there was no sign of healing.

"Damn," he muttered and reached for the box of tissues on the desk. He pressed two of them against his palm. The wound was small, and the bleeding would stop, but he was disappointed. He was emotionally torn between wanting the advantages of being a vampire and not wanting the disadvantages. For one thing, he now noticed that he had no rings of any kind on his fingers. If he was human, that was alright. He had been out in the sun since leaving the airport and nothing had happened to him. Okay, so he was human and he could suffer a wound like any other human.

He wanted to go out into the hall and help, but what could he do? The first time it had been Hope who had handled things, shooting him in the process. Where was she now? Would she confront the shooter as she had before? She had the power to hurt him, to disarm him. In fact, that must be true of several of the students. Elijah knew that Salzmann's own two daughters were powerful witches. Were they at the school at this time?

Despite being human, Elijah wanted to do something to help. He did not want to get injured again, but he couldn't hide in the office. Maybe he was destined to be wounded again or to die. He needed a weapon. He checked to see if one was in the room's cabinet or in the closet. He found one in the closet. It was a crossbow and there were bolt arrows with it. Alaric had probably had the weapon for a long time. Some years before Hope was born to Hayley and Niklaus, Alaric had come to Mystic Falls as a vampire hunter looking for Damon Salvatore. However, he had taken a job as a teacher at the high school and had become a close friend to Damon. A person never knew how things might turn out.

Thought of his siblings came to mind. He hoped they were living agreeable lives: Kol with Davina, Rebekah with Marcel, and Freya with the woman she loved and was married to. He was glad he had had the chance to get to know Freya, who had been gone from the family before Elijah was even born.

And now I am here. Why? For how long? he wondered. He spotted a crossbow in the closet and picked it up. The short bolt arrows were there as well. Were they meant to kill a vampire? Or to wound anyone else. The shooter the day before had been human. He could be killed with this weapon. Was it the same man? The father of Anton?

Elijah did not have the acute hearing that he had once had, so he was surprised when a man stepped into the open doorway. It was the father of Anton and he held the pistol. In fact, he was shoving a new magazine into the grip. Seeing Elijah, he stopped short and pointed the weapon at the latter. Elijah wondered if the man had fired the gun until it was empty and then reloaded. If so, it needed to be cocked again. Or was there one round still in the chamber and ready to be fired?

He didn't wait; he fired at the man, who fired at him at the same instant. The bolt went into the man's chest. The bullet went into Elijah's chest. Both men staggered backward and Elijah made sure he fell behind the desk. It took him seconds longer to load the second bolt than it did for the man to fire a second bullet. Luckily for Elijah, the bullet buried itself in the heavy wood of the desk. He knew the man could fire again. Without knowing exactly where the fallen man was, he didn't want to blindly fire the crossbow. Anyone could come along the hall to the doorway and get shot.

"Are you Anton's father?" he called. He wondered how serious his own chest wound was.

"Yes. Who are you?" The man's tone of voice sounded like he was in great pain.

"I am just a guest. Why are you shooting up the place?"

"They were supposed to keep Anton safe! They let him kill himself!" the man cried out, gasping.

"I am sorry for your loss. I know how it is to lose someone dear to you."

The man did not answer.

"Are you badly injured?" Elijah managed to ask.

There was no answer. Had the man lost consciousness? Or was he silently waiting for Elijah to show himself?

Elijah didn't move. He was hurting and he was fighting not to cough. It was likely that his wound was to a lung. He could hear the rattle of his breath in his lungs. There was loose blood there, he knew, and it was serious. If he showed himself and the man was just waiting, then he would sustain another wound. He waited. How long could he wait before he bled to death?

Then he heard voices and hurrying footsteps. Help had arrived. There were no more gunshots.

"Is he dead?" someone asked. The voice sounded like that of the lady at the front desk.

"Yes," said Alaric after a long moment.

"Where is Elijah?" That voice was Gayle's.

Elijah raised a hand above the top of the desk and someone saw it. Alaric and Gayle hurried around the desk and bent over him.

"Hold still, Elijah," the head man said. "Ambulances are on the way."

Elijah tried to comment, but all he did was cough up blood and spatter it all over his helpers.

"Don't try to talk."

In fact, Elijah couldn't talk. All he did was cough and gurgle blood. He found himself reaching out to Alaric, holding onto his hand. The thought crossed his mind that if he died now, would he find himself back with Niklaus? He hoped so. Even in death, he did not want to leave his wayward brother unaccompanied. The man would always find ways to get into trouble.

"Where's Hope?" Alaric asked urgently. "Get her down here, Margaret. If you can't find her, get one of the other vampires. Now!"

Without being called, Hope came running into the office. She had sensed that a family member was there and in trouble.

"Uncle Elijah! Oh my God!" the girl cried, kneeling in the limited space behind the desk. She had assumed Elijah was dead, along with her father, and yet here he was, blood all over him.

"He needs your blood, Hope," Salzmann said, stating the obvious. "He's bleeding and it isn't stopping. I don't think he's a vampire anymore."

No one noticed the expression on Gayle's face except Elijah, who saw it as he looked past Hope for a moment. It was hard to tell if Gayle looked shocked because he was so bloody or because people were saying "vampire." How could she come to this school and not know about the students?

Hope glanced around with a panicked expression on her face, saw the letter opener on the desk and used it to slice into her palm. She then held it to her uncle's mouth. He didn't hesitate to suck in the blood. Her hand healed quickly and she sliced it again, sensing that what he had taken was not enough. She did this three times more until the bleeding seemed to have stopped. It was hard to tell until he took a deeper breath with less of a gurgle.

By this time, the ambulances had arrived and so had the sheriff and a deputy. The sheriff was Matt Donovan. He found the group in the office, noted a dead man who was being ignored and also noted that everyone was gathered behind the desk.

"Is that Elijah Mikaelson?" he asked with surprise.

"Yes," Salzmann told him.

"I thought he and Klaus were dead."

"They are. Were. Elijah seems to be human this time," the teacher said. "He and the man over there shot each other. A bullet here. A crossbow bolt there."

"Why? What was going on here?"

"Remember the boy Anton who took his own life? That's his father. He came into the school shooting."

"Damn! How is he doing?" Donovan asked, nodding toward the bloody man lying on the floor.

"Better, I think. Hope has been giving him blood. He has an upper chest wound. Lung, but maybe it's healing now."

Elijah nodded and managed to whisper "Yes." He was now holding Hope's hand and he could see that she was looking less frightened for his life. He could breathe better and knew he was healing. But was it enough? Even if he was not bleeding anymore, he was still in a lot of pain and he felt weak and light-headed. He didn't want to lose consciousness, but it depended on the power of Hope's blood and if he had taken enough of it.

A/N Things happened differently this time. Will he go to the hospital and see Elena? Or Damon. Will he still need surgery? What will Gayle do? Sorry I haven't written these chapters faster. I've been spending time trying to get a book ready for publication.