I was so nervous as I drove to the Mikaelson's house that my hands were shaking. Today was the first day of my self defense lessons with Elijah and I had no idea what to expect. Being close to him was so intoxicating I didn't know if I was going to be able to focus on defending myself from him when I wanted him close. I understood why this needed to happen; being associated with the Mikaelson family came with a certain amount of danger, especially if my past life was anything to go by. It would just make everything so much easier if I could remember everything from my past; Rebekah would be over the moon, Elijah would feel much more comfortable around me and we would finally have all of our questions answered. Elijah's current distance was adding to my anxiety about this whole situation.

I took a final deep breath, steadying myself, as I parked in front of the Mikaelson Mansion. I made my way up the front walkway and through the front door, where I promptly ran right into Klaus.

"That's alright love, no need to knock or anything" he grumbled

"I never knock when I come in anymore!"

"Acting like she bloody owns the place now…" he continued to grumble as he brushed past me and out the front door, and I could hear the mumbling continue all the way to his car.

"Don't mind him, he's in a mood" Rebekah said with a smile as she came down the stairs.

"Isn't he always?" I joked and she nodded

"Come on, Elijah is out back" Rebekah gestured and started leading me through the house. When we got out to the back patio I cast my gaze around the backyard but I couldn't see Elijah anywhere.

"I thought you said he was back here" I asked her

"He is! He said he found a clearing a little ways through the trees, I bet we can-" but she was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing in her pocket, "Hello? Oh hi Tracey! Yea I'm leaving right now!" And I looked down at her outfit and realized that she was actually dressed to go out, and for some reason that made me even more nervous. I had just assumed that Rebekah would help Elijah train me. "-Yup! See you soon" and then she hung up the phone.

"You're leaving?" I asked her nervously

"Yea I'm studying with Tracey and Bonnie today"

"Why wasn't I invited?" I whined, wishing I could attend the safety of the study group.

"Because this is serious Caroline! You need to learn how to fight if you're going to be part of this family!"

"But!-"

"No buts! Now get your ass into that forest and kick my brothers!" she grinned. I nodded my head with a sigh and she turned around and headed back through the house. I scanned the tree line more closely as I started to make my way through the yard and eventually reached the trees. I stepped carefully over twigs and leaves, going deeper and deeper into the trees as my anxiety grew. I couldn't find him anywhere. I was starting to get impatient when I heard a leaf rustle just to my right, but before I could turn in that direction was attacked and thrown into the air. I missed hitting any trees or branches, but I landed on my back with a hard THUD.

"Lesson One: Always be aware of your surroundings" a smug voice said with a bit of laughter, and I looked up to see Elijah leaning against a tree. I quickly raced to my feet, a blush darkening my cheeks in embarrassment at being caught off guard by him. But when I got to my feet I was only able to stare at him stupidly as my mouth went dry. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans that hugged his waist and hung sexily down from his hips; and the tightness of his black t-shirt highlighted the lean muscles of his stomach and left the toned muscles of his arms bare.

"Caroline?" he asked, his brow furrowed, and I realized I hadn't said anything yet, being too preoccupied with his change in outfit. I was so used to seeing him in his formal suits and ties that I was left a bit breathless to see him in such a carefree appearance.

"What?... Oh right! I did hear you but you got to me before I could turn!"

"And that would be part of our problem love" he smiled as he pushed off from the tree, "We need to work on honing and sharpening your senses, and then we shall move onto your speed and then into more defensive moves"

"And what about offensive moves?" I challenged, quirking an eyebrow.

"I don't think you will have any need for those Caroline" he said softly as he moved closer to stand directly in front of me. He brought his hand up slowly, grazing his fingers against my cheek, "You should never be in a position where you would need offensive moves" he said. I swallowed, not sure what to say when his hand dropped and he backed away again, the tense air lightening a bit. I took a deep breath and shook myself.

"Alright fine, how do we start 'honing and sharpening my senses' as you put it?" I asked, using air quotes and earning a smile from Elijah. He gestured for me to follow and started leading me a few yards through more trees into a clearing.

"Go and stand in the middle of the clearing" he said and I did as I was told. I faced away from him and waited for more instructions. After a minute of standing in silence my impatience started to rise and I turned to look back at him but he was gone. I circled in place, my eyes raking over the dim tree line at the edge of the clearing but I couldn't see him anywhere.

"Close your eyes" came Elijah's whisper in the wind. I shook my head in exasperation but again did as I was told. With my eyes closed I felt my other senses awaken and start to stretch out. I could feel the weak fall sun warm the skin of my face and cool fall air blow through the fabric of my sweatshirt. I could smell the slight decay of the leaves on the ground and a hint of Elijah's cologne that lingered on my clothes from his earlier ambush. But my sense of hearing was threatening to overwhelm me. I could hear every bird chirping in a one mile radius, every rustle of the leaves and snapping of branches would set me further on edge as I tried to listen for Elijah.

"You need to reach out with all of your senses together Caroline" Elijah's whisper rasped in my ear as he sped up behind me.

"I thought that I was" I whispered back, a small sigh leaving me as I felt his warm hands lightly on my waist.

"You're not… You're reaching out with each of your senses in turn and not altogether. Once you are able to open up all of your senses you will truly be empowered" he continued to breathe into my ear as the pressure of his hands on my waist tightened. Despite the fact that his presence was intoxicating I tried to do as he asked, I tried to stretch out all of my senses at once but one was always more heightened than the others. I screwed up my eyes and doubled my efforts. I felt Elijah's hands leave my waist and he made his way around to face me. Again I tried to stretch out all of my senses evenly but there was a barrier I couldn't cross and I grunted in aggravation as sweat started to bead across my forehead. Elijah stood in silence and left me to my internal battle… and I spent the next two weeks in a steady mixture of aggravation and desperation, with no progress in sight.

I did eventually gain some distance in the perimeter of my sense circle, as I was now calling it, but it wasn't anywhere near as far as Elijah could go. After he was satisfied with the first lesson we moved onto the next. Elijah had borrowed a crossbow from Stefan and together the two of them had fashioned new paint soaked blunt foam tips. They didn't cut or draw blood, but if I was still human they would leave a killer bruise, but for now their purpose was to treat me as a human dart board. Whenever an arrow met its mark it would leave me with a paint stain, but thankfully the paint marks were considerably reduced by the end of the second week. That night when I was peeling off my sweaty and paint marked jeans I decided that I needed to talk with Elijah about his training method. I would be very calm and mature and make him see reason…

We had moved from the clearing into the dense cover of the trees for our little games of paint ball, and it seemed we were going to remain here for the next lesson.

"What now Obi-Wan?" I asked when I walked up to him on the first day of the third week of our lessons. I was getting a bit exasperated with the entire process. I had thought that these defense lessons would involve hand to hand combat and I would be learning with defensive weapons but the only thing I've learned is how to avoid being hit with paint soaked missiles and how to hear a bit further.

"Well I thought that we would continue with-"

"Ugh!" I interrupted him with a loud sigh and he quirked his eyebrow up in amusement, "I am so sick of dodging these stupid paint pellets! I want to learn how to actually fight!" I complained.

"I would think that you would be sicker of getting hit with the paint pellets" he answered with a smirk that only served to irritate me further. He set his bag down at his feet and crossed his arms, waiting for my reply.

"Yesterday you were only able to hit me with 1!" I defended myself

"Yes and that was one too many" he said back, all teasing gone from his voice, "what if it wasn't harmless paint? What if it was a wooden arrow drenched in vervain?... or worse, werewolf venom?"

"Elijah I…" I started to say but he cut me off, too caught up in his passionate speech.

"I know you think these exercises are tedious but I am doing this to keep you safe"

"I know that…" I sighed, "and I appreciate it- I DO!" I said as I closed the distance between us when his eyebrows raised again, this time in disbelief. I laid my hand on his chest and looked up at him in silence for a moment, while he gazed back down at me.

"So you want to learn more defensive moves?" he asked after a minute.

"Yes please" I said with a smile, happy with my victory despite the drama.

"Then run" he said with a smirk, and my heart sped up when I realized what he had said, and without another thought I took off through the trees. I weaved in between trees and jumped over every obstacle and I was so focused on leaving behind no clear trail that I didn't hear Elijah come up behind me. He grabbed me around the waist, bringing me to a complete stop, and knocking the wind out of me. Being a vampire meant I didn't need to really breathe, but the feeling was disorienting. He made his grip tighter and reached around me to grab my neck.

"And what is the problem with this position?" he breathed into my ear, and I had to stop myself from saying what I was thinking, absolutely nothing, but I tried to think of an appropriate answer.

"Ummm… You could bite me" I said breathlessly, not being able to help the shiver that went up my spine when he stiffened a bit against me, no doubt thinking what I was thinking…

"And if I was a werewolf that could be deadly" he finally said, "What else?"

"And… you could snap my neck" I suggested

"And when you fall unconscious you leave yourself vulnerable for any enemy to kidnap you or simply kill you where you fall"

"Understood" I said, feeling the gravity of his words settle around me.

"Good… again" he said, releasing me, and the day continued in the same manner until the sun started to set.

"I think that's enough for today" Elijah said, brushing some dirt from his knee after tackling me to the ground for the seventeenth time.

"Oh, did you get tired of kicking my ass?" I asked with a chuckle as I slowly got to my feet, and he offered me a hand to help.

"I could never get tired of that love" he said with a smile as he turned around to retrieve his jacket from the ground, "Anyway tomorrow I think we should work on more specific defensive moves instead of simply evasive moves…" he was saying as he strode away, unaware of the perfect target his back was making at the moment. Without thinking I blurred toward him, my vampire features coming out with the excitement of the attack, and before I could wrap my arms around him from behind I found myself trapped beneath him on the forest floor.

"So you want to learn some offensive moves?" he asked and I nodded breathlessly, "Lesson one: dispense with the battle cry" he laughed, "and lesson two: don't pick a fight with an Original"

"I honestly do not even remember making a sound" I laughed, letting my head fall back in defeat. After a moment I picked my head back up with a smile, but it slowly faded when I realized that he was still laying on top of me. I became hyperaware of the hard panes of his body pressing against mine, and of the way his heartbeat seemed to pick up as I continued to look into his eyes. He sucked in a breath as he realized the position we were still in, yet he did nothing to separate us. After a moment he started to lower his lips to mine slowly, eyes drawn in a silent question, and I answered by bringing my lips up to meet his. His kiss started slow and sweet, but quickly turned hurried and passionate as our suppressed desires took over. His hand traveled down from my cheek to caress the curve of my hip and then lower to cup the back of my knee as I brought my legs around him. I felt my way up the hard panes of his chest and into his hair, feeling the softness of it through my fingers as I lightly scratched his scalp. He made a noise low in his throat that had me arching my body into his, desperate to close any space between us. He ground down against me, his hardness pressing between my legs making me moan into his kiss. His other hand tightened on my waist as he slid his hand under my shirt and he broke away from my mouth to trail kisses down my neck. I felt his right hand leave my thigh and gently trail up my stomach and chest to where the zipper started and he slowly pulled it down as he kissed back up my neck to recapture my lips. My entire body felt like it was on fire at every point that his body touched mine and then he-

"I see that training is progressing…passionately" Rebekah's voice floated over us, breaking through the fog of desire that had wrapped itself around Elijah and I. He broke away from my lips and looked up at Rebekah in exasperation, but making no move to get off of me.

"Did you need something sister?" he asked her calmly with a sigh. I craned my neck to look at Rebekah and saw that there was a smirk dominating her entire face even as she tried to hide it with her hand when she caught my eye.

"Your cell phone has been ringing off the hook and I didn't recognize the number"

"And what would you like me to do about that?"

"For all that is holy I would like you to answer the damn phone before I break it!" she answered with an exasperated sigh before she turned on her heel and made her way back to the house through the trees.

I turned my attention back to Elijah, who was still hovering above me, and I lowered my hands from his chest back to my sides. He lowered his eyes to meet mine and I could see the internal struggle happening behind them. If we didn't follow Rebekah back up to the house then it was a guarantee she would come back, probably more violent than the first time, but to do that he would need to let go of me… So he sighed one last time as he slowly got to his feet, then he offered me his hand to help me to mine. He reached forward and picked a leaf out of my messed up curls as I pulled the zipper of my sweater back up, both of us a bit flushed from what almost happened. My whole body felt slightly tingly and my blood hummed through my veins in excitement. No other boy had ever had this effect on me before. Damon had been a fast burning, compulsion induced nightmare. Matt had been safe and comfortable, but lacking in the passion I had felt with Tyler. And Tyler, Tyler had been forbidden. He had been both comfortable and passionate and I thought I would love him forever. And then the same person that had forced Tyler from me had also brought me Elijah…

"Shall we?" Elijah asked me, his voice snapping me out of my thoughts as he held his hand out to me.

"We shall" I said as I smiled and grabbed his hand, and we walked back to the house in companionable silence. The one major change I had noticed since we started doing these lessons was how much more comfortable Elijah seemed to touch me.

We got back to the house and Elijah left me with one last lingering look before he went to his study to deal with the incessant caller. I grabbed a blood bag from the fridge and made myself comfortable at the kitchen table, sipping my snack… Until I heard what sounded like a light knocking sound. I perked my ears and widened my senses like Elijah taught me. I could hear Elijah's murmuring tone from across the house, and again I could hear a light persistent knocking and then what sounded like distant voices. The voices sounded vaguely familiar and I could tell that the knocking was coming from a door down the hall from the kitchen. I got to my feet and started following the noise.

To start the new year off right I will be posting a new chapter every Sunday for at least the next three weeks, maybe more if I can make some progress!

Happy New Year!

Read. Review. Enjoy!