Sitting up in the bed, alone and cold, Susannah feared the night before had been nothing but a wayward dream. That Elijah had never held her the way she could faintly remember, that the ghost touch that lined her skin was nothing more than pure imagination.
It was a cruel thought.
Running her hand over the spot Elijah had rested in, she could remember the pressure of his hand on her stomach as he held her close. Their fingers had been intertwined in such a simple and sweet way, yet holding hands in bed was an incredibly intimate thing to do. Burying her face back into the pillow she could smell him as if he was still right besides her.
Yawning she stood on wobbly feet, taking a mere two steps forward when she she saw the single white rose in a crystal glass vase on Elijah's window seal. One that had been absent the night before.
Her fingers soothed over one of the fine petals of the rose before she leaned down and inhaled the whimsical scent it blew. The rose was far from perfect, one of the petals had wilted some at the end and the thorns that covered its stem were set in an uneven pattern. But it still warmed her heart.
And for a split second Susannah could imagine a sea of warriors raining from heaven to smite her for feeling this way.
Susannah was a traitor and Elijah was her treason.
Elijah stared out the window, watching nature move as it always did. He stood there a moment listening to the creek that ran just outside. The steps that echoed behind him broke the sound of water lapping against the grass.
Turning he couldn't help but see the wings, as black as night, first.
"My sister has never understood love the way you have." Arael was quiet when he spoke, and he moved about with a certain otherworldliness that threw the world into a limbo of the unknown.
He was a child. But then again, he wasn't.
"And she will not understand it by any hand of mind." There was a coolness in his voice, one Elijah knew he must continue to latch onto. This attachment he was beginning to develop for Susannah was falling into a dangerous territory, one he wasn't supposed to enter again.
Arael chuckled lightly. As if Elijah was only a fool to think so.
"You will fail at that task," Arael said simply. He sat down at the table, tapping his fingers against the side of the chair he sat in. "Casting yourself aside in advance to save yourself some hurt will not work with Susannah."
A quizzical look took form on Elijah's face as he stared at the child, unable to admit the most obvious of emotions.
"What makes you so certain that I feel anything for her?" The inquiry was spoken in a mild and albeit aloof tone but Elijah couldn't disguise the tenseness of his body as the thought of having Susannah captured his mind.
"It's almost impossible not to." Arael inhaled roughly," You see Susannah is one of father's favored creations. I have seen her existence. I saw the ripples she makes- how much she affects the world just by being. Would you believe that the things she does in her lifetime will, at some point, affect every person on this planet at least once?That is...extraordinary. She is the walking theory of a butterfly creating a hurricane just by batting its wings halfway across the world. No being has ever done that before- none will ever do it again. One day, she will die and not many will know her name, but everyone will have been affected by her."
Elijah stood still, mouth hanging open, a heavyweight in his chest. That wasn't the kind of answer Elijah expected out of Arael, but then again, what had he been expecting? The answer was nothing, he'd gone in blindfolded, and now he'd come out blind.
"Now I have upset you." Arael said his brow furrowing in concern.
"No." Elijah said breathing out a laugh. How could an abomination deserve the one who holds a piece of the world in her hands?
"Arael," Susannah greeted as she entered the room, she immediately bent at her middle to place a kiss on Arael's forehead, one Arael quickly wiped away with a rouge blush. She wasn't doing anything more remarkable than standing there, and yet Elijah couldn't stop staring.
The rose Elijah had gotten for her was in her hands, and if possible the rose looked so much better there than anywhere else.
"Elijah," She greeted with a slight nod, her warm expressive eyes focusing on him. Her hair was messy and perfect as it fell down her body framing her face. The spaghetti strapped shirt she wore didn't touch the top of her shorts by mere centimeters, but that slither of skin was enough to intoxicate Elijah much more than a sea of whiskey ever could.
Coughing, Elijah spoke in a modulated tone, careful not to let anything he was feeling slip through the cracks of his words. "Susannah, my siblings have requested my presence in terms of dealing with our moth- Esther."
The strap of her shirt fell down beneath her shoulder when she shifted, frowning she ran her fingers over the petal of the rose nervously. "Has anything happened?"
That scent, that lovely, lovely scent. It was all around him now, mingled with the euphoric memory of the feel of her body against his. She was warm, soft, and pliant. He winced slightly, he simply wasn't used to caring this much. It seemed all the years of burying and destroying these kind of feelings meant nothing to a second in Susannah's presence.
"It's more a matter of precaution. You see, Esther, is unaware that the spell she attempted to bind her children is under no effect. We must act quickly while we have the upper hand." Elijah's voice twisted on the name of his mother. The betrayal still burning a hole deep inside his chest.
Watching Susannah look at Arael, it brought forth a new, raw kind of jealousy. There's something magical about Susannah in her interactions with Arael. They have the kind of bond a civilization could be forged on, the obvious contentment they held in each others presence was enough to make any on looker burn with envy. They were simply, a pure, and loving family. Not perfect, but beautiful nonetheless.
"They will be here shortly," Elijah said his eyes drifting back towards the window.
Arael picked up a green apple, and rinsed it before turning on his heel and prancing away while tossing the apple up and down. His wings flapped back and forth as he moved further and further away from the kitchen, a small smirk etched on his face.
"Can you explain it to me?" Susannah murmured as she glanced over at Elijah.
"Explain what?" Elijah inquired making sure to keep some distance between him and her.
"Why I can't get too close." She dragged her bottom lip through her teeth and dropped her eyes to his collarbone.
Elijah could practically taste her essence on his tongue, was she trying to tempt him? To destroy his resolve?
"Nothing is stopping you." Elijah's main flaw was his ability to internalize, if he was full of rage, or grief, or consumed and betrayed- he was a marble statue, stunning and unyielding. He spoke with what sounded like practiced detachment. As if this wasn't about himself but about some random person.
"Every step I take forward you take two back." Susannah pointed out as she took another step, Elijah had to force himself to remain still.
Something hummed dissonant beneath his skin, something nameless and enervating. It was a hard question, there were so many things to say and yet he couldn't think of much except the truth and one single lie.
"Your an angel," He said finally.
"Can you not accept me the way I have you?" Her brow is furrowed. Her eyes widened with not pain but offense. As if she expected more out of Elijah.
There it was. Susannah has laid out a way for Elijah to detach himself from her by that single question. He could say that he could never accept her, but that would be a lie, for he already had. Or he could say the truth that rested under his tongue.
He stays silent for a moment, deliberating. Elijah knew what the beginnings of true affection felt like. He has loved many times and he knew falling again would cost him another piece of himself. Another piece he wasn't ready to give.
Susannah finding an answer in his silence averted her eyes. The pain in her chest was different than the one her family had caused. It affected a different part of her heart, she couldn't understand why she felt anything at all.
"I suppose it makes sense," She whispered. Elijah looks up at her feeling like a mere fool. The sadness that glazed her eyes mixed in with confusion acting as a barrier. "You went out of your way to aid me and Arael. You do not owe it to me to entertain me, you owe me nothing. It is I who owe you."
A certain kind of dread tickled his heart, as if he had lost something vital.
Susannah twisted a book in her hands catching Elijah's attention. "This may be a thing you neither want or need, but I want you to have it."
She placed it besides Elijah, careful not to touch him.
"What is it?" Feeling very sick he stared at Susannah, wishing she would meet his eyes.
"Consider it a gift, from me to you." She turned on her heel, walking away with her shoulders lowered. Leaving the rose Elijah had given her on the table.
Klaus stood by the fireplace his eyes watching the fire wood as if wishing there was a flame. His body was tense, but that wasn't unusual in terms of Klaus. His silence however was.
"Mother wouldn't do this," Rebekah cried desperately, her blonde hair flinging over her shoulder as she stomped towards the door. Klaus had simply told her, the night before that the toast had been poisoned. He hadn't mentioned their mother's hand in it.
"Wouldn't she?" Klaus taunted darkly. "Wouldn't she do anything to destroy the bastard child she conceived?"
"If so why is Finn not with us?" Rebekah shot back harshly. Her eyes jumping back and forth between the faces of her siblings, searching for a better answer. An answer that fit the picture she had created in her mind.
"You continue to stand by you delusions of our family. Finn was just as much apart of it as are mother was."
"What makes you so certain?" Rebekah finally sneered.
Klaus smirked leveling his eyes with Elijah's. "Lets just say I had an angel whisper it in my ear."
Rebekah frowned, the answer vague and indecipherable to her only added more to her growing frustration.
Elijah's whole body language changed in that moment as he focused his eyes. Klaus knew, and Susannah had been the one to tell him. Lifting his chin he forced himself to exclude the facade of complete and utter control.
"Speaking of angels, where is the lovely Susannah?"
Elijah's eyes fell to the book that sat on by the window. The gift he didn't deserve, Elijah hadn't as so much touched the book, if he had, he would have felt even more worthless.
Kol smirked," It's almost as if Nik could read my mind. Where is she Elijah?"
Rebekah kicked her heel at the floor," What does it matter?" Her blue eyes darted from sibling to sibling once more. Her anger growing and growing. She was the only one who even seemed to feel anything at their mother's deceit. While her brother's pondered upon some slut Elijah had picked up from nowhere.
"My presence was requested?" Her sweet voice was heard before she was seen. As she rounded the hall, her long hair glossy with health and volume bounced as she moved towards the siblings. And she took his breath away, like the dozen of his past loves had. The difference was, Susannah also reminded him to keep it.
Wringing her fingers together she smiled. She smiled so lightly, so prettily.
"Would you mind sharing with the class exactly what my degenerate mother had planned for her darling children." Klaus's voice broke through Elijah's trance as he shattered the image by the way his eyes seemed to trail after Susannah.
Susannah met Elijah's gaze, only for a split second before looking away. "It would be my pleasure."
