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Chapter 11: Elijah
Nicolette was nearly knocked flat by Elena as the doppelgänger clung to her in a tight embrace. She awkwardly wound her arms around the taller teenager in a comforting hug, her hands moving in soothing patterns on Elena's back while her foresty eyes questioned her cousins silently. "S-Sorry. I j-just-" Elena trailed off as she worked to get her breathing back down to normal.
"It's alright Laney. Why don't we have a sleepover in my room tonight, just like old times?" Nicolette proposed as she slowly released herself from the doppelgänger's death-like grip and offered her an encouraging look. A look of silent relief came over Elena's face before she responded with a slightly shaky, "I'd like that." Nicolette smiled, "Fantastic! Why don't you go get settled in my room, while I make us some hot chocolate. Then we can have a family campout in my bedroom."
Elena nodded in agreement with Nicolette's proposition before going to do just that. Meanwhile, the green-eyed brunette made her way into the kitchen with a pointed look at her cousins who followed her. "You know this could've been prevented if you would have been there too," Damon pointed out while leaning against the counter and observing his younger sister/cousin. "But I wasn't. I was here looking after Jenna. You know, the innocent human who everyone is lying to and are allowing her to think she's going crazy," she fired back with an accusing stare that neither of her cousins could hold. She continued with a quieter but somehow even more devastatingly piercing tone, "I guess some things never change when it comes to a doppelgänger. Nice to know how close our family really is." Before either of them could rebut or protest, Nicolette had taken the hot chocolate and was heading up to her room.
"She's right, you know. The first thing you do when you see Elena is ask her how she is doing and make sure that she's alright. Yet with Nikki, your own cousin, you care for a day but then drag her around with all your shenanigans. You don't seem to care for the fact that she's been getting little to no sleep and barely eating, because she's run ragged. No, everything is always about Elena." Jeremy vented with a shake of his head as he downed his glass of water. He turned to face the two brothers, "You're both lucky that she cares deeply for you, because after all the sh*t that you've put her through, she still defends you. Think about that." With that being said, Jeremy went up the stairs to join his sister and surrogate/best friend.
The Salvatore brothers watched him go in silent shock. Jeremy's words had been like a slap in the face to the both of them. Stefan's expression transformed into one of brooding guilt while Damon's slipped into an emotionless mask.
Nicolette and Elena looked up with a welcoming smile as Jeremy stood in the doorway to the former's room, "Room for one more?" "Get in here," Elena demanded playfully as she shifted to make room for her brother. Jeremy was only too eager to comply and soon he and his sister had sandwiched Nicolette between them on her bed.
"Lucky I'm not claustrophobic," the petite brunette remarked with a dry laugh. "More like lucky you have a queen-size bed," Elena rebutted earning a round of laughter from all of them.
The three of them watched movies on Nicolette's TV till the early hours of the morning, when the two Gilberts had nodded off on either side of Nicolette. For the first time in many years, the youngest member of the Salvatore family felt at home. 'Jeremy and Jenna had been right. This was as much her family as theirs,' she thought with a small smile as she glanced down at the two slumbering siblings. The three of them had managed to completely ensnare Nicolette between them, with Elena cuddling her arm and Jeremy curled around her other side.
Nicolette carefully extracted herself from the siblings, before getting out of her bed, grabbing her workout clothing, and shutting the door silently behind her as she left the room. She quickly changed into her spandex running capris and matching top, before plugging in her headphones and heading out for her morning run.
As Nicolette came back to the house, she was mildly surprised by the black mazda that was parked in their driveway. Curious, she took out her headphones and jogged up to the house, arriving just as a suit-clad man was leaving. Their eyes met as they passed each other, forest green meeting dark brown briefly before Nicolette continued into the house. Something about the well-dressed stranger seemed almost familiar.
She shook her head in an attempt to banish those thoughts before heading to the shower.
"Yeah, I'll be right there. Just tell Mr Malcolm that I had to grab my bag from the other house and got held up by family," Nicolette instructed as she jogged down the Salvatore staircase and shut the door behind her with her phone at her ear. She made her way to her Porsche with a laugh, "Why would you say that?! I'm never gonna be able to get that visual outta my head. Thanks for that, Jazz!"
Nicolette paused as she felt as though she was being watched. Her green eyes glanced up and around her casually before she froze at the sight of the well-dressed man from earlier. "Gotta go," she quickly ended the call ignoring her friend's protests before carefully judging the distance between Carlisle and the Boarding House, and which one she would have a better chance of getting to. Her hands gripped her bag tightly as she opted on the house direction. She had taken three steps in that direction before hearing the signature 'whoosh' sound of vampire speed, pausing she glanced behind her and saw nothing only to turn back to the forward and barely withhold the gasp of surprise.
Dark chocolate brown eyes stared down into her forest pair, "I do hope I didn't frighten you?" his voice was smooth like honey as he watched her. Nicolette shook her head, "Not at all. Just startled me, is all. Can I help you with something?" she managed to reply with as calm of a tone that she could muster while working to calm her heart rate. "Yes, as a matter of fact I think you can," he looked her dead in the eyes, "You can tell me who you are and your relationship to Elena Gilbert."
Nicolette completely aware of what was going on, scrambled to come up with a believable compelled facade, allowing a partially dazed look to come over her face. "My name is Nikki and I'm Elena's unofficial adopted sister," she replied in a monotone. A small amused smirk formed on his handsome face as he realized her duplicity, "You're not wearing any vervain and you're not a Vampire," he paused to inhale at her throat before giving her a curious look, "Your scent suggests human but there's something different about it."
Nicolette fought the urge to shiver at his close proximity as he slowly circled around her, intimidating and assessing her. He pushed a strand of her mahogany hair away from her face and off of her shoulder, fingers brushing up against the junction between her neck/collarbone and shoulder, before coming closer and looking back down into her eyes, "What a delightful conundrum."
"You're a Vampire, I'm a human. What's the conundrum?" Nicolette questioned with a slightly modulated tone as she thought out a plan of action. The handsome vampire smiled knowingly, "But we both know that is not completely true. Neither of us are what we appear to be." Barely had he finished speaking before Nicolette made her move.
"Then of course there's no hard feelings," Nicolette exclaimed before sending him flying backwards away from herself with a burst of magic. The moment the Vampire was back on his feet, she had already disappeared.
"Do you have any idea who this girl might be?" The Warlock questioned as he pulled out one of his grimoires to study. "Her friend called her 'Nick' but that is probably what you might call a 'nickname'. I believe she might be of some sort of familiar relations with the doppelgänger and quite possibly with the two Salvatores. But there was something about her. As if she was literally pulsing with power," the suit-clad Vampire replied thoughtfully before adding, "She also had a birthmark along the junction between her neck/collarbone and shoulder. Very distinct, something that you wouldn't forget."
The Warlock glanced up at the Vampire in interest before getting up and grabbing another rather old grimoire. He carefully set it down and dusted it off a little before carefully thumbing through its pages. "I'll see what I can find, Elijah."
"Yes, thank you Dr Martin. I think I'll pay the doppelgänger a visit."
Nicolette jogged down the stairs with her phone in hand, she paused at the sight of Jenna digging into the Gilbert storage closet, "Do I want to know?" The blonde aunt let out a curse as she hit her head on a shelf after jumping in fright. "Don't do that!" she exclaimed before getting up and mock glaring at the pretty brunette, who had a sparkle of amusement in her forest eyes.
"Sorry Jenna."
"No you're not."
"I'm sorry, but that never get's old! What're you even doing in there?"
Jenna sighed, "I'm digging through Miranda's old Gilbert historical stuff. Mayor Lockwood roped me into it." She eyed Nicolette's bag, "I'd ask you to give me a hand, but it seems that you're off on another venture."
"I'm sure Laney would love to help with your expedition of the Gilbert closet of history. I'm just heading to Charlottesville to meet with a few family friends."
"That's what you say every time. If I didn't know any better, I'd say there was a guy in your life."
Nicolette sputtered, "I'm not-No! Jenna? Why would you even think that?" She followed Jenna down the hall to the door only to pause as she saw who the bubbly aunt was with. It was the handsome well-dressed Vampire.
"Hi, I'm Elijah," he introduced himself with a pleasant smile while his dark chocolate eyes shone with a clear indication as if to say 'check'. Nicolette broke out of her shock and maintained a composed smile, "Nikki," she replied in kind without breaking eye contact with the Vampire.
Jenna glanced between them with a growing smile on her face, "If you want to see the town and know all the history behind everything, Nikki would be the one to go to. I swear she knows this town better than any of our Founding Families." This earned an annoyed expression from the green-eyed brunette in question and an intrigued look from Elijah. "In fact, Nikki should give you the tour. She'd do a much better job than me and I'm sure she'd be more than willing to help," the blonde added slyly with a smug smirk on her face at the look of incredulity on the teenager's face.
Elijah resisted the urge to grin at the exchange between the two women, his eyes gleamed as he watched the indecision flash through the brunette's pretty green eyes before a smooth smile slipped onto her face. "Not at all," she replied with a convincing yet quite false smile on her face.
Nicolette sipped at her steaming coffee with a look of annoyed contentment on her face, "At least this time I actually get to finish my own coffee," she remarked into the phone's receiver.
"Is that an uncommon occurrence?" The smooth masculine voice of Elijah came from behind her. Nicolette jerked in surprise, letting out a curse as hot coffee spilled on her and nearly dropped her phone.
Her forest eyes flashed around as she turned to face the Vampire, who wore an amused expression on his handsome face. She attempted to compose herself and lifted the phone back up to her ear without taking her eyes off of the handsome male, "No, no, I'm fine. Just spilled piping hot coffee all over myself... Yes, yes... See you later, Jenna." With that said she hung up the phone and slipped it into her pocket.
The pretty brunette gazed forlornly at her spilled coffee that was soaking into the grassy ground. "I hope you're happy. That was my favorite coffee and now it's wasted! Make a noise next time!" Her tone clearly conveyed her annoyance as she retrieved her fallen coffee cup.
Elijah raised his eyebrows, "Are you actually scolding me?!" His tone was incredulous and laced with surprised amusement. He hardly contained the urge to laugh at the fire in her forest eyes as she glared at him.
"-quite the opposite actually. I find you much too intriguing to simply kill you," Elijah supplied with a penetrating yet curious expression on his face. Nicolette gazed back at him with an incredulous look in her bright green eyes, "Intriguing, you say? Idiotic is more like it."
"By all means, explain?"
"I allowed Jenna to invite an Original in, after Damon staked you with a coat rack and I stupidly kept my mouth shut."
Elijah stopped to face the petite brunette beside him with raised eyebrows, "You're quite certain that you could've prevented this, and yet you didn't. Now I must ask you, why you are telling me all these things when I could very easily put an end to any threat that you might pose for me?"
Nicolette looked past him, "But you can't, not really anyways. Somehow not even death offers an absolute end," she paused and took a few steps before glancing back at the handsome Original. "Besides, it'll be nice not being the only one tasked with keeping everyone from being stupid. I might actually get a chance to get some homework done and volleyball practice in." A smile played across her face as she finished speaking and a laugh closely followed at the thought of those things actually happening.
Elijah watched her with an amused smile of his own playing across his face as he heard her laugh. "Happy to be able to help."
Nicolette resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Elijah and her came up to where Jenna was waiting to finish Elijah's tour. The blonde university student was beaming at the two of them with a knowing look in her blue eyes, "How'd it go?"
"I'm pretty sure I managed to bore Elijah-I mean Mr Smith, with all my background history on Mystic Falls," Nicolette amended at the sly expression on Jenna's face, earning a smirk from the Original Vampire. "Not at all, I promise. Nicolette was very helpful and inciteful. Thank you for lending her to me for the morning."
"Yeah, that's Nikki for you. Wise beyond her years and sharper than steel," Jenna replied with a grin earning an exasperated shake of the head from the female in question. "I'll leave you both to it then."
As Nicolette turned and started to walk away from the two of them, she heard Elijah call out for her, "I hope to see you again soon, Nicolette." A tingle went down her spine at the lack of question behind his words and a small smile worked its way across her lips. She turned and smiled back politely before continuing on her way, inwardly battling herself.
Hey all! So you finally got your wish! Elijah has made his debut entrance!
I might've had a bit too much fun writing interactions between Jenna, Nicolette, and Elijah...
But anyways, I hope I'm not making Elijah too OOC and keeping him on character...
Please let me know what you all think of my writing so far and let me know what you liked or anything that you think I might be able to improve on!
Please stay tuned for the next installment!
Thanks for reading! :)
~ShadowStalker182