Sorry, I finished my finals last week, then I was on party mode, then I was on sleeping mode. I guess I took a break from everything, including you, which I am sorry for. But I am back :)

Kol is back. I love Kol. Right now, I know there isn't a lot of Elejah, but there's a reason for that, which I'll probably explain next chapter.

My clue about Kol and Bonnie was their fake names: Sabrina and Harvey, from Sabrina the teenage witch :)

LMotD

Slow down you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart tell me why
Are you still so afraid?
Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only
So many hours in a day

Vienna - Billy Joel

Always and Forever

Chapter Fourteen

Caroline and Elena were at the Grill, slowly drinking their coffee, enjoying this little pause in their effervescent lives. The sun had set, and Elena had finally recognized that there was nothing else she could do for the dance for tonight. She wanted to, but her little minions had been begging for a rest, so she had agreed to let them go home, so long as they came back in the morning to fix the details. She, on the other hand, had a dress to find, and she guessed that with Elijah, it wouldn't be a matter of one hour. It's not like she was complaining either, because she really didn't mind spending hours in the company of the Original.

"I'm sorry about what I said about Damon, it wasn't my place. Just because I don't want to forgive him doesn't mean you can't."

"And I have to apologize for the way I've been treating you about, well about everything. I tried to handle Damon when he first came here, and maybe I should have just told you the truth. Maybe it would have helped. You know, I've been having these flashbacks, since I became a vampire, like all the compulsion wearing off. I should have asked what he did. I was just scared of your answer."

Taking her huge cup between her two small hands, Caroline gave her friend a sad smile, "It is better if you don't ask. The past is the past. I know he isn't that person anymore, but like I said at the dance, I wonder if he can keep himself from switching it off if you do tell him it's over."

Elena looked at her from the rim of her mug, smiling as she said, "Well, I did tell him it was over, if you remember correctly."

"Yeah, I was there. You were scary. But it felt good seeing you kick his ass like that."

Still laughing, Elena added "Yeah, well he had it coming!"

"I'm sad about the piano, though. It really was beautiful!"

Right then, Elena proceeded to avoid Caroline's gaze, until it was pretty clear that the blond vampire knew she was hiding something and wouldn't drop the matter anytime soon. "He does let me practice at his house. If you think the one he gave me looked beautiful, you should see that one! He had it made by a master around the time he was hanging out with kings. He tried to hide that part, but Kol decided to tell me when he noticed that it would make Elijah uncomfortable." Elena chuckled at the memory.

Caroline sighted, and silently shook with laughter, "Elena, when did our lives go so wrong?"

"Around the time I was born." Both girls kept quiet for a while, both feeling guilty for different reasons.

"Come on, Elena, if you really want to play martyr game, why not go back all the way to Esther's spell, or even the werewolves, but then nature itself, because it created the werewolves!"

"Okay, okay, I get it! Not my fault! I didn't cause Klaus' trust issues, or those witches obsession with expression! Please forgive me, ô terrible baby vampire!"

"You're younger than me, Elena!" protested Caroline.

"Maybe, but I'm stronger!" answered Elena, smiling with all her teeth.

Caroline downed the rest of her coffee and spaced out for a minute, remembering her last conversation with the Salvatore brothers. "Anyway, Stefan, Damon and I have a theory. I'm not sure I'm convinced yet, but you can decide for yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Did Bonnie ever mention expression being linked to sacrifices?"

"No… Bonnie never mentioned anything linked to expression because she didn't know anything, I think! Why?"

"Damon had this strange theory about a witch he knew who dealt in strange circles, and who asked his the sacrificed of twelve to get rid of a problem he had. Apparently, the number is important, and the magic harnessed from it is pretty powerful. Now, the council blowing up… they were exactly twelve in that old building!"

"And why do you doubt? If there's one thing I learned with Mystic Falls, It's that there are no coincidences!"

Bonnie was driving, and she really would have appreciated a little rest. However, every single time she convinced herself that letting Kol drive wouldn't be so bad, she suddenly felt very awake again. She had been behind the wheel the five hour drive to get to the university, they had stayed a couple of hours, and now they were only three hours from Mystic Falls. She wasn't sure she could make it if they didn't stop for coffee soon.

Kol probably sensed that she was tired, because in the last thirty minutes or so, he had started talking a lot more, keeping her from dozing off. She had to give it to him, he was good with completely random talk. From what she had learned, he liked cars, but missed horseback riding, and he was in love with music, but didn't know any lyrics. He also much preferred modern clothing, especially the woman's, and had said so while quite obviously checking her out. Bonnie would have had taught him a lesson if the lesson hadn't included hurting herself as well.

To Kol, everything was new, from hot water in the shower to toaster in the kitchen. Everything that people from the twenty-first century took for granted, he marveled at. He had asked about her family, but had quickly changed the subject upon hearing the death of her grandmother and her mother. He had apologized for her mother, because though he liked being a vampire, he could understand that for a witch, it was an unfathomable curse.

They had reached some sort of companionship when Bonnie's phone started vibrating from her purse, on the back seat. Kol took it and handed it to her, not exactly sure what it was about woman's purses, but sure that man weren't supposed to look into them. When Bonnie gave him an impatient look, he opened the bag and went straight for the buzzing device, answering when he saw the doppelgänger's face on the screen.

"Isn't it that sweet little doppelgänger?"

"Kol, give me back my phone."

Elena was surprised to hear the Original's voice, because she thought Bonnie was going alone, "Why are you with her? Where are you?"

Bonnie's driving had become a little erratic in her attempts to get her phone back and it had become quite apparent when she almost hit a car head on, only saved by Kol's grip on the wheel, taking them back in their lane. "Careful, witch, I'm the immortal one, remember? I don't think your friend would kindly take it if you were to die while I'm on the phone with her!"

"Enough, both of you! Now, did that Professor tell you anything about the purpose of sacrifices in expression?"

"He didn't say anything about sacrifices. He implied that expression was good, but could become bad if wielded by bad people. However, dear doppelgänger, you will agree with me that sacrificing people for magic hardly makes that magic good, will you not?" While he was talking, Kol had borne his eyes in Bonnie's skull, who had decided that focusing on the road seemed the best idea right now.

Elena sighted in exasperation before answering, "Yes, Kol, expression is bad magic." Before she had the chance to pursue that line of thought, Kol asked her another question, "And you will also agree that if the Professor whom my mother, the Original witch, might I add, suggested would know more about expression claims not to know anything, he was indeed lying?"

"Yes Kol, I think that is pretty clear at this point. Why all these questions?"

While he was wearing a triumphant smile, Bonnie made a sudden turn and started to head back to the university.

"No particular reason. I wanted to prove a point and thanks to you, I just did. I will have to hang up now, we have a Professor to torture."

Turning to Bonnie, he said, "Now, what is it people say in situations like these? I think it goes along the lines of I told you so. But we can make our own variations and add I was right and you were wrong, but that might be a tad too show off, what do you think?"

"Just shut up and let me drive."

"You're tired. When I'm not speaking you doze off. I've noticed. So it's either you fall asleep and drive us into a tree which will injure you if not kill you, and we all know what happens to me after that, or you listen to my amazing voice. Whichever you prefer, really!"

When he had started speaking, Bonnie had let herself foolishly hope that he had noticed for her sake, but of course, he was just thinking about his survival. The whole situation made Bonnie more furious than she'd ever been. First she was wrong about Professor Shane, then she kept having these little fleeting thoughts about Kol, really nothing was going all right. She just wanted to go home and she couldn't be further of doing that.

The trees were standing tall, and they were so huge that the sun had trouble fighting its way to the ground. The animals roamed free, but these days, they usually avoided a part of the forest where strange things were going on. In this place, no birds were singing, no rabbit were running. Only ants remained, going on with their business, undisturbed.

In that part of the forest, one could expect a complete silence, if no animals are present. Sometimes, it was indeed silent, but most of the times, there were desperate cries shouted at the sky, begging for forgiveness, begging for release, begging for death. There were curses and threats, also, but mostly, there was pain. Unbearable pain and inevitable pain. The pain was necessary, but it was still unwelcome.

There were thirteen of them, and Nature wanted nothing to do with them. They were an abomination, and She wanted nothing more than to get rid of them forever, along with their master. Nature also worried that the witches that had walked her path once, before turning their backs on Her, would succeed in exterminating the hybrids, because the power they would gain would be unimaginable.

The forest was the same as the one where the witches had pledged themselves to Tyler, but now, the rebellious hybrid was standing with eleven unsired hybrids, all of them busy looking at the body on the ground, half man and half wolf. Tyler was getting closer, and it had been easier with every hybrid he unsired. After every unsiring, Tyler had gotten better at knowing exactly what to say to convince them that going through that pain was worth it, that killing Klaus was the only option. Tyler had told them of his secret allies, which would allow them to kill the Original, but only with the might of the number of twelve.

"Soon, we'll be ready," said Tyler to his pack.

"What's the plan?" asked one of his hybrids.

Another quickly replied in a sarcastic tone, "Yes, what's the plan, Tyler? We're not sired, why don't we just all go our own way and forget about Klaus?"

"He needs to die for what he did to us! I am leader of this pack, you will do as I say!"

"Then you'll become just like him! Maybe we could kill you too?"

Tyler lost it and gripped the unthankful hybrid by the throat and held him high up in the air. "I am nothing like Klaus! Once he's dead I will let you go! But he will never let us free." Tyler then broke the insolent's neck and said, "I'll let you a couple of minutes to think about it!"

He turned to look at all the other hybrids that had gathered to witness the brief confrontation. "Does anybody else want to disagree?"

A huge hybrid with a sadistic look maniacally laughed and stepped forward. "Can we kill all the other bloodsuckers? The blond Barbie looked like she'd make a good meal."

Tyler growled as his eyes turned yellow, "Caroline is mine. Touch her and you are dead."

"Enough!" All the hybrids turned to see five witches walk toward them. Their eyes were all black, and as they advanced, the trees and the bushes seemed to try to escape their presence. The grass withered under their feet, and even the hybrid withering on the ground ceased his whimpering. "This bickering is not welcomed. You need to be united. Klaus will end you if you show the slightest hesitation. Your number is your strength. Use it wisely."

The words were cutting, and it was clear that the witches wouldn't tolerate any misbehaving. Tyler was glad for the appearance, but still felt like they were undermining him. He had lost one hybrid in his first attempt, but none after, which made a total of thirteen hybrids to defeat their sire. After that, he would be king, and he would rule over the world. He'd be the most powerful being on earth, especially with the witches at his side. He would have to find a way to control them too. None would oppose him. Surely when Caroline saw how powerful he was, she would come back. He would offer her the world; after all, wasn't that what Klaus had offered in the first place?

"We attack tonight. No need to wait any longer."

"We will not torture Professor Shane!" furiously whispered Bonnie to Kol.

"And what do you propose we do? Clearly your pacific method didn't work. Time for me to try something a little less… subtle!" argued the Original.

They were walking fast on campus, and while Kol had been tempted to just speed to the liar, he didn't want to leave the witch alone.

"We will tell him that we know he lied, and that we were told he would give us the answers we are looking for."

Kol rolled his eyes before answering, "And rainbows will appear as the unicorns chant." He paused, as if to think, and proposed something else to Bonnie, "Let's make a deal. I scare him to death, I threaten him, but I don't actually do any physical harm. Would that please your righteous self?" he asked, as he bowed his head in mock respect.

Bonnie didn't deign him an answer, she just hurried to the door with the name of Professor Shane nailed on it. Just as she was about to knock, she was pushed aside, not violently, but firmly enough that she stumbled a little. She was about to give Kol a piece of her mind, but his posture had changed. He didn't look carefree anymore, he was guarded. Every single muscle he had was on alert, and he looked like an animal that had caught the scent of something that wasn't supposed to be there. When he turned his head to Bonnie, she could see that his eyes had blackened. "Stay here."

"No. I'm not some frail girl who needs protection."

He moved to stand closer to her, to the point where personal space held practically no meaning at all. She could feel the ghost of his breath against her skin, just when he took her face in both his hands and stared at her with dilated pupils, "You will stay here."

"Did you just try to compel me? I'm on vervain, I can't be compelled. And even if I wasn't, Kol, you can't compel me! The spell, remember?"

Kol growled and moved back in front of the door. "You are a pig-headed suicidal witch, if anybody wants my opinion."

"Fortunately for the both of us, nobody does. Now open the door! Unless you're scared, of course!"

Kol didn't need to be told twice. And he sure didn't need to be told he was scared, because for a second, he had been. He hadn't feared for his life; he was immortal, except for a couple of stakes and a sword, but he had feared for Bonnie's life, even if just for a second. Then she had been her usual bitchy self and he had forgotten about his caring thoughts.

On the other side of the door, there was the same office they had been hours before. Everything was the same, from the way papers were sprayed across the desk, or the books were ordered in the bookshelf. The only thing that was different was Professor Shane himself, who instead of being sit looking through some books was now lying on the floor, his head twisted in an impossible angle.

"Looks like somebody got here before we did. Well, that's quite a problem wouldn't you say?"

But Bonnie had rushed to the Professor's side, checking for a heartbeat even though she knew there was none. He was gone, and so was their hope of finding out more about expression. Esther had specifically named him, and she had made the mistake of trusting him. She had put her faith in another fellow human, and she had been wrong. She stayed on her knees, despair weaving its way through her heart. She had lost her will, just as Shane had lost his life.

"Come on, now, don't be like this! Can't you do some witchy thing? I had a friend back in Salem who could talk to the dead, and she wasn't even half as powerful as you are. Why don't you try?" said Kol, trying in his own way to comfort Bonnie.

Bonnie looked up to him, her eyes lighten with a burning fire. "Actually, this isn't a bad idea."

"Don't act so surprised, witch!" retorted Kol, playing the offended.

Bonnie started to look around the office, looking for candles and herbs, and just as she expected from the shady guy, he had a cabinet full of witchcraft stuff. She placed the candles around the body in a five-pointed star and used salt to draw the lines of a pentagram. She could have summoned his spirit right-away, but she didn't want to take the chance of him getting away, and the pentagram would trap him.

"Get out of the room," she told Kol, without looking at him as she was still busy preparing for her spell.

"I'm not leaving you alone, and if I can't compel you to do stuff, you can't order me around." Kol didn't know for sure because Bonnie wasn't facing him, but he could swear she had just rolled her eyes.

She started chanting in latin, and as her voice grew stronger, the floor started to shake. A strong wind arose in the room, threatening to extinguish the candles. Bonnie, her eyes shut, moved her hands around her in a semi-circle, nurturing the fire even more. She could feel something blocking her yet again, but this time she had full control of her powers. The problem was his spirit, as if he was tied somewhere and she was blocked from accessing it.

Kol had been on the lookout for any passer-by when his nose caught a scent he hadn't expected. Blood. Bonnie's blood. He came back to her side to look at her, and just as he'd expected, there was blood coming down from her nose. He wiped it with his thumb without her noticing it. She just kept chanting in that very stubborn way she did everything. He took her face in both his hands and just as he was about to speak her name, something weird happened. He could feel something pass between them, but it was a one-sided connection. Energy was leaving his hands and passing through her face. She was doing this unconsciously, but she was drawing what she needed from him. Kol could have stopped it had he just taken back his hands, but the feeling wasn't painful. Just curious. Their connection truly was amazing and never stopped to surprise him. He guessed there would be even more surprises before the end. He also suspected that Bonnie had no idea of what she had done. Not much later, the wind stopped, the flickering candles stabilized, and Professor Shane's spirit arose and stared at them.

"Did you kill me?"

Bonnie's eyes opened and she gave Kol a confused look when she noticed him standing so close, with his hands on her cheeks. He quickly stepped aside, ready to pretend that nothing had ever happened. "No, friend, but I'm guessing whoever did didn't want you to speak to us. Obviously, since you're already dead and have nothing to fear, I would suggest speaking. I don't like being lied to, but my friend here has a habit of not-handling very well disappointment. I wouldn't advise crossing her."

"Let me rest in peace, I beg of you. Where I was, it was perfect. Let me go back there!"

"Answer my questions truthfully and I'll let you go. I can trap you forever here if you don't."

Kol interrupted Bonnie just as she was about as she was about to question Shane, "So, we've established that expression is really bad magic, no matter who wields it. I'd say it can even corrupt a good witch. Now, what's that thing with sacrifices?"

"There is much energy to draw from death. Twelve deaths can magnify the power of all the individual deaths to give you unimaginable power."

Kol waited for more, but quickly realized the Professor was done. "Do we really need to pry all the answers from you? We are the good guys here!" He corrected himself when he heard Bonnie cough. "At least, she's the good guy, I'm complicated. Now, witches are after us and they are using the Five. What do you know about that?"

"They are a coven of twelve, which makes them invincible. But they are afraid of your family. There is so much power hidden in your family, but only if you are united. They wished to destroy you before you found such unity. The Five are the way. They do not know who they are working for. They are being used."

The spirit talked in a monotone voice, as if he had no care in the world, which was probably the case. He just wanted to find his peace.

Then Bonnie decided to join the discussion, "Why didn't you tell us this when we came earlier? Why hide it?"

He pointed toward Kol, "Him. I do not trust vampires."

Even with the heavy atmosphere, Bonnie took the time to give Kol a smirk. "Is there anything else you haven't told me?"

"The Hunters. They take strength from the sacrifices. The witches take strength from the Originals' deaths. They wish to take their immortality. I know not their numbers, nor their individual strength. I know nothing else. Please, give me back my peace."

"If I were you I'd let him rot," said Kol.

"Then praise the spirits I'm not you." Bonnie just let him go and extinguished the candles. She made a move as if to leave, but Kol stopped her.

"Look, witch, you don't seem disturbed by the fact he's dead, which is not a good sign for you, but he was murdered. If you let your witchy stuff lying around, it won't look good. Make it disappear, and we'll go."

Bonnie stopped at Kol's words. It was indeed disturbing that she wasn't affected by death anymore. She made the pentagram disappear and erased all traces of their passage, before motioning to Kol it was time to leave.

Bonnie started to yawn and she said, "I can't wait to be back home in Mystic Falls. Let's hit the road."

"You were already falling asleep on the way back. With the spell you just cast, you're barely standing on your feet. We're staying for the night, unless you want me to drive?"

Bonnie left her mouth hanging open. She couldn't possibly have heard that right! Spend the night here? "Never. I'll take a coffee and I'll be just fine!"

"Look, okay? It's quite simple. You will fall asleep if you take the wheel. We'll go in a hotel, sleep, wake up and come back just in time for the dance! I saw one not too far away, and I have my brother's credit card. I'm not familiar with the way it works, but from what I've gathered, I can buy whatever I want and Klaus takes care of it."

"Which means two rooms?"

"Stop being so afraid I'll attack you, witch. I only take willing women in my bed. Are you coming now?" he asked, handing out his hand.

"Don't you need to drink? Not that I want you to, but we could stop in a blood bank. I'd prefer that as you going all crazy in the hotel and murdering half the staff. When's the last time you fed?"

Kol went all quiet, which got Bonnie worried. "The day of the pageant."

"So you're gonna go crazy bloodthirsty on me? I'll stop you."

"I don't need to feed anymore I think. I still can, but I don't feel any less weak even if I don't drink blood."

"But you love the hunt. Why don't you just do it for pleasure? Don't get me wrong, I really disapprove, but I don't understand, and I want to understand."

"I don't want to anymore. Human blood has lost its appeal. Hybrid blood would make me sick." He turned to look at her with a predatory look. "Witch blood smells like a divine delicacy. Or maybe it's just yours."

Bonnie temporarily forgot how to breathe. She wanted to answer him with something like "Ew. You wish." And yet, beneath his grinning mask, there was some truth hidden. He had indeed stopped drinking human blood, which was good. Bonnie mentally berated herself for thinking that she would never date a bloodsucking vampire, but that she would have to rethink her notion if the vampire wasn't a bloodsucking one.

And then there was that little part about her blood. She could decide to take it as the joke it was meant to be. But again, there was something more. He did want her blood. That she knew. It was like many other things with Kol since she had done that stupid spell. She just knew he was telling the truth, but that he was hiding it under a thick coat of sarcasm.

"Don't be scared, witch. I said I only take willing women," said Kol, annoyed that she would think so low of him. It was funny how she could read him like a book, and he would read her like an illiterate.

When she heard the car door slam shut, Elena ran downstairs and opened the door.

"You're early."

Elijah poorly hid a smile. He was indeed early, but Klaus had tossed him outside after the fifth time he had asked the time in five minutes. He felt like a hormonal teenager, and that was all because of Elena.

"I am. I can go back to my car and stay there for the next half an hour until I am perfectly on time."

Elena laughed, "But the stores aren't opened yet!"

Elijah passed his fingers through his hair in a nervous gesture which Elena only viewed as smoothness. "Then how about a cup of coffee before we start this day that I'm sure will be exhausting? There's this place in town, I know the owner, I'm the one who turned her a couple of centuries ago."

"She's that old and she owns a coffee shop?"

"She loves coffee about as much as she loves blood which is weird if you ask me. But who am I to criticize her? Now, shall we go, Elena?"

"Yes, you're lucky I'm a morning person and I was ready an hour ago!"

Elijah had indeed been right. The coffee was quite simply the best Elena had ever had. True, she wasn't that old, but she almost purred when she took her first sip. Elijah had just kept looking at her with that same ghost of a smile. She had ordered three different coffees after that first one, and Elijah had ordered all the other ones he had seen her eye with envy on the menu. She probably wouldn't sleep for the next days with all that caffeine, but she was just so happy, Elijah bet she would end up buying her own coffee shop one day. She also had exchanged numbers with his friend, Alissandra, and they had planned another coffee date soon.

"Thank god for vampire metabolism. Do you realize all the whipped cream I dignity and had been really calm about the whole thing. But now, her restraint was gone. Anyway, she already felt such ease when she was with Elijah, it was just a matter of time before he saw her stuffing herself with chocolate or something else. She had all but forgotten about the real purpose of the day, when Elijah suddenly looked at the time.

"We already lost an hour of shopping, and I assure you, to find a dress suitable for my sister, we'll need all the time we have left!"

The first shop they entered, Elijah left before Elena had time to breathe twice. Apparently the clothes smelled bad, and he would not buy such disgusting things to his dear sister.

The second, he had carefully examined every single dress in the shop, only to leave without saying a word. He had Elena completely confused.

"What are you looking for? Maybe I could help!" tried Elena.

"I do not know what I am looking for. When I'll find it, then I'll know."

"Oh god. We'll never get out of here. Okay, let's start with the basics. Rebekah will be the queen of the evening. She needs to look magnificent. And she's blonde, so pretty much every colour looks amazing on her. But no black, because black is boring. No blue either, because everybody wears blue. And no green, because she wore green for the ball, and you don't wear the same color twice. I'm thinking a mermaid dress, strapless of course, in color tones of purple. Purple was always the color of royalty."

"According to Rebekah, going shopping with an exact idea in mind is a recipe for disaster."

"Have faith, Elijah."

They continued shopping for a while, because it is indeed a dangerous business to look for something you've already pictured in your head. Whenever they entered a store, it was the same thing. Elijah would walk calmly, commanding respect as he always did, while Elena let go and just enjoyed touching all the dresses, and imagined a life where she could wear gowns on many occasions.

She was always laughing, and he was always smiling at her. She felt at ease when she was with him, but she didn't realize she felt better just when they were closer. Slowly, as the day continued, she would talk to him with her hand on his arm. Sometimes, he would give her the princess treatment when she asked for something and hold her hand in his before he brushed his lips against the skin.

They were oblivious to the world, and though they were shopping for Rebekah, she wasn't always the first thing on their minds. Elijah was tired of the low-class places and where they were right now, a gentleman had kindly offered them Champaign while they looked around.

"Would the lady like to try that gown?" he asked in that impeccable speech.

"Oh, no! We're are not looking for anything for me. His sister is the lucky one!" answered an embarrassed Elena. She had been staring at it for the last couple of minutes.

"Try it on, Elena."

She pointed her finger at him like a parent would when scolding a child, "No, Elijah. We cannot get sidetracked."

"I chose my sister's gift an hour ago. You seemed to have so much fun I didn't want to spoil it. Now, go try on that dress that we already know was made for you."

Elena made a mocking salute, "Yes, sir"

And she did look amazing. "Stunning." Turning to the gentlemen, he said, "We'll take it, thank you."

"Elijah, no. This is not something we'll discuss. It's a no. As simple as that. No."

" Maybe the lady would like to try it a little bit more." He went to a turntable and took out some priceless vinyl.

When the music started to play, Elena backed away a few steps, feeling like the whole situation was getting way too out of hands. Elijah kept taking two steps toward her for every step she took to escape him. "I don't have heels."

"I assure you I don't mind."

"My hair is a mess."

"Your hair looks breathtaking."

Her back hit the wall.

"I can't dance."

"Now that's just a lie."

Only half a step separating them.

"I…"

"You owe me a dance. I didn't get the dance I desperately wanted at my mother's ball."

And he took one of her hand in his while he placed his other hand on her waist. The last thought of protest died on her lips as he started to lead her away from the wall and in the opened area in the center of the shop. At that moment, Elena regretted not dancing with him at the ball, because a thousand years of practice had made him a gifted dancer. She felt clumsy in his hands, yet he managed to make her look like a princess.

They were dancing never leaving each other's eyes, but Elena quickly grew scared at the depth of Elijah's. She was getting lost, and that was to fear. His stare never wavered; he was the incarnation of confidence. He knew what he wanted, and Elena wasn't sure yet she wanted to find out exactly what he wanted.

When the song ended, a slight pressure from Elijah's fingers were all that he needed to ask her for another dance. The little step she took to get closer to him was all the she needed to answer his question. And so they danced, and they danced.