Elijah had wandered the smoldering ruins of the warehouse for hours now and had found nothing but ash. Either Rae had gone up in the flames or she'd gotten out and away from here. Dirty, bloody and more than a little worried he'd just lost another woman he'd loved he was a little out of it. How could this have happened? He'd only been moments behind her, the coven couldn't have gotten that far into a spell before he showed himself.

What really worried him was how strange Rae had been. Could she have regained enough sense to get out of the fire or had she curled up in a corner only to burn to death? The not knowing was killing him. He hated to feel useless but what could he do? Something deep inside him was telling him Rae didn't die here today but how on earth could that be possible? Was it just wishful thinking or had she really gotten out alive?

Standing in the middle of the rubble Elijah cast his dark eyes over the wreckage, how had the fire started in the first place? It had happened so quickly and the fire had been unnaturally fierce. To him it had looked like the fire had been drawn to the witches, sought them out and burned them as if they were made of the driest wood. He'd been relatively unharmed, his lungs had been painful for a time from the smoke but were now healed. The left arm of his jacket was burned, his forearm visible now but healed as well.

Well there was little more he could do here. Taking one last look around Elijah walked away, jaw muscle ticking as he tried to figure out how he was going to find Rae. She had survived but where was she? She wasn't here in the wreckage as far as he could tell. Where would she go if she had gotten out?

That at least gave him something to do. Instead of standing around doing nothing he could look in familiar places for her and pray, yes even an original could pray from time to time, that she was somewhere safe. First he'd check the compound, she had gone there before when she'd been injured perhaps she would again. Then the club or Momma Odie, though the thought of going there without Rae was daunting. The old woman would not take discovering Rae's MIA status well coming from anyone let alone him of all people. He'd cross that bridge if he needed to, the witch couldn't hurt him permanently but right now he wasn't sure he could afford the time it would steal in finding Rae.

Direction set he didn't waste any time, "Where are you Rae?"

The compound turned up nothing. No one there had seen or heard from Rae. They had seen the flames in the night sky but hadn't known what was happening. They all looked concerned but none of them said anything which was a small blessing. For once Klaus was silent though he did comment on Elijah's state of appearance. It wasn't often he wasn't pressed and meticulously clean but today he could care less, the ash and blood on his clothes hardly mattered if Rae were dead or dying somewhere.

There were some protests when he left them but he was hardly hearing them at this point. Perhaps The club was were Rae had gone. It was a little closer to the warehouse after all and she hadn't really been in her right mind when she'd been torn away from him.

The smell of blood hit him two blocks away and hurried him along, the smell was strong which meant a lot of blood. His stomach dropped when he reached the back door of the club only to find blood and soot on the handle. Was she here? Not waiting to knock Elijah went inside, following the scent trail from the main floor where the club was to the second where Rae kept an apartment of sorts.

Blood on the railing and door handle told him he was going in the right direction but it worried him. Was Rae bleeding? Had she gone all this way wounded and was right now bleeding out on the floor? The thought spurred him forward but she wasn't just inside the door, the smell was further inside.

He found her finally huddled on the floor of the shower; hugging her knees covered head to toe in blood and ash. He couldn't smell her's specifically but had a feeling it could be masked. Cold water poured down over her but had hardly washed away any of the blood. She was shivering her face buried against her knees and curtained by her hair.

Moving to the shower Elijah turned the water to warm, "Raeanne? Rae look at me."

When she lifted her head at his prompting the haunted look in her eyes alarmed him. What had happened to her? Before reaching out to her he jerked out of his ruined jacket and then brushed his fingers against her cheek as if to assure himself she was real. "Rae, are you hurt?"

For a moment she merely looked at him, shadows playing across her eyes. When she answered her teeth were chattering, "I...d-d-don't think so."

Well that was something he supposed. Kicking off his shoes Elijah pulled his tie free before moving to sit beside her on the floor of her large open shower. He hardly cared about being wet, "How long have you been here?"

She shook her head as he wrapped an arm around her, letting him pull her into his side without protest, "I...I'm not sure."

What was it with this woman and not remembering things? For a woman with a photographic memory she sure seemed to be able to block things fairly well. First the attack and now this? Elijah worried that the coven had done something to her memory.

"It doesn't matter," he said softly as he hugged her carefully. Slowly her shivering was stopping, it couldn't be good for her to sit in freezing water but hopefully she hadn't been here all that long. Her lips were slightly blue but were pinking up quickly now that warm water rushed over her. Now to get her cleaned up. Belatedly Elijah realized she was naked, his eyes went from her to the bathroom but he hadn't seen bloody clothes. Whatever clothes she'd been wearing were nowhere to be found... had they burned? Rae didn't seem to be hurt, he couldn't see any burns on her as the water worked to wash away the blood and soot covering her.

"Can you stand? Let's get you cleaned up," he said as he touched a hand to her chin. When she lifted her eyes to his he almost gasped, the haunted look there was still deep and it was a painful haunted look.

She let him pull her to her feet, "Elijah..." Shaking her head she stopped unsure what to say but it was that one word, the tormented tone she'd used that broke his heart.

Wrapping his arms around her he pulled her close, "It's alright now." He hugged her carefully but tightly and smiled briefly when she sighed before lowering her forehead to his shoulder. Elijah wanted to know what had happened but had a feeling she wasn't ready to talk about it just yet. She was struggling and he didn't want to make it worse for her right now.

For a time he just held her, running a hand over her back and splashing water here or there without saying anything. Finally he leaned back, his hands on either side of her face as he looked at her, "Are you hurt Rae?"

She shook her head, "No. I...I don't know how but no."

That was one of the more pressing questions he had for her. Rae was human, that fire should have burned her but as the water washed over her he could see there wasn't a mark on her from the fire. Running a hand along her arm he sighed softly, "It's alright. We'll figure it out. Turn around."

She followed his direction without a word as she stepped forward to let water splash her upturned face. Elijah was quick to remove his ruined clothes though his eyes were glued to her back. Where there had once been flawless skin there were now dark markings that looked strangely like wings to his eyes. Confused he dropped his shirt to the floor and then reached out to trace his fingers along the marking.

From her shoulders to her hips were now what he could only describe as wings, tattoo like lines looked perfectly set into her skin. His fingers could feel nothing as they moved over the form but his eyes could see it. The lines were made up of what he could only guess were runes of some kind but he couldn't make heads or tails of them. When had this happened? Given her current state of mind Elijah wasn't sure if he should bring it up to her right now. What this meant for her bothered him, Elijah didn't know enough about witchcraft to understand what this might mean, would Freya?

With a shake of his head he stepped up and wrapped his arms around Rae, hugging her tightly for a moment. He'd been so afraid she'd been hurt or had died in the fire, seeing her now soothed him though he was still alarmed by her state. Rae seemed disoriented to say the least but otherwise unharmed, the markings on her back worrisome but not life threatening as far as he could tell.

Kissing her shoulder Elijah hugged her once more and then turned her in his arms so he could see her face. Thankfully when she turned she seemed a little less distant, "You scared me."

The ghost of a smile he got wasn't all that reassuring, "I scared me. I...I'm not sure what happened, it's l-like I bl-lacked out."

Elijah looked at her for a moment and then kissed her lips briefly before saying, "We'll figure it out together."

He wasn't sure he wanted to know what had happened to her, seeing her here safe and in one piece was enough for the moment. Whatever the markings on her back meant surely it couldn't be all that bad? It was alarming to say the least but the mark wasn't hurting her or anything so for now he'd leave it alone. Besides, he'd have to get Freya or someone to look at the mark to tell him anything anyways.

After getting Rae cleaned, which required a lot of hands on attention which Elijah was more than willing to give her, they dried themselves off only to climb into her bed. It had started in the shower, a hunger for each other, and carried them into the dark blue silken sheets of her queen sized bed.

There was a slight desperation, a wildness to her as he covered her body with his that made Elijah pay a little closer attention. It didn't however stop him from tracing the lines of her body with his mouth, nor did it stop him from running his hands over every inch of her. Still he felt the need to reassure himself that she was really here, really pressed against him and begging for his touch.

When she was spent and the wildness seemed to have eased Elijah lay beside Rae and watched her sleep curled against his chest. He felt slightly tired himself after spending the last few hours trying to wear her out, she'd seemed to only want more but finally the storm in her eyes had eased and she'd fallen asleep. Brushing his fingers through her curly red hair he wondered what was driving her, what had gotten her out of that fire unharmed. There were far too many questions going through his mind but slowly Elijah was able to relax and rest himself more or less.

Much later Elijah's cell phone rang from the bathroom but the sound was loud to both of them. Rae's reaction however was slightly alarming, she sat bolt straight up in the bed. What bothered him was the fact that when he reached out to touch her bare arm he jerked away in shock, her skin was scalding hot and had burned him on contact.

"Rae?"

She didn't seem to hear him at first and then as if she was jerked out of whatever place she'd been she looked at him, "What?"

Elijah was hesitant but he reached out to touch her again, this time her skin wasn't burning hot. With a shake of his head he climbed out of the bed, "It's just my phone. I imagine one of my siblings."

A quick check confirmed his suspicion, Freya had tried to reach him. Glancing down at his hand which had already healed Elijah wondered what had just happened. He needed to get Rae to his sister and see if she could explain any of this. Whatever the witches had done wasn't going to bode well for Rae he had a feeling.

Rae watched him from the bed and she curled her legs up and hugged her knees, "You look like you need to feed Elijah."

He lifted his eyes to look at her as he stood in the bathroom door briefly before moving closer, "I'll be alright. I should probably get back to the complex but I can't leave you alone."

Arching a brow she tipped her head back to look up at him, "I'm fine. I can't explain it but really I'm ok."

After standing at the edge of the bed Elijah sat beside her, "I know you seem to be alright but I think we should have Freya give you a once over. Whatever the witches did, I don't think it's good for you to be alone for a bit."

She thought about that for a moment and then shook her head, "Elijah, I just need to rest some and I'll be fine."

With a frown he shook his head as he reached out to cup her face in his hand, "Raeanne, please? Humor me and come with me. Let Freya make sure the witches didn't do anything serious to you."

"I'm not sure what exactly they did, it's like I know I was there but I can't remember anything that happened."

Kissing her forehead he gave her a careful smile, "Better to be safe than sorry."

"This isn't a winning battle is it?"

Elijah shook his head, "Not this time Rae. It's better to have you checked out and know nothing is the matter than assume that's the case and have there actually be something to worry about. You remember nothing?"

She sighed and placed her own hand over his before shaking her head a little, "Not really no." It troubled both of them but what could be done about it? "Alright, I'll go but only because you asked so nicely."

It wasn't a lie when she said she couldn't remember because honestly she couldn't but she felt different. She felt… something deep inside her but describing it was outside her abilities at the moment. Rae could feel its heat spread through her, begging her to stop fighting to keep it back. While she couldn't explain why, she felt if she let whatever was inside her have free reign it would be murderous and wicked. It was begging to tear the the world a part so she fought it, kept as tight a grip on whatever it was as she could manage.

The look she got said he wanted to be anything but nice to her but he merely stood and moved to his clothes, "Hmm, perhaps I should have hung these... they are still damp."

"You could try to fit into something of mine," she said with a smirk. The mental image of Elijah wearing something other than his usual pristine suit was amusing the say the least.

Ended up one of the band t-shirts she had actually was a size that would fit the Original. So he now stood at the end of her bed, in his boxer briefs pulling the shirt over his head with a scowl on his face. Shaking her head Rae smiled, "It's not that bad. At least it's clean and not damp from the shower you tried to take fully clothed."

He wasn't impressed with her attempt at humor as he glanced down at himself, "This doesn't present a solution for the other half."

Rae surfaced from the tank top she'd just pulled down to cover her bra and smiled, "See if those jeans will fit."

Lifting his eyes to look at her Elijah arched one dark brow, "Raeanne… it's highly unlikely I will fit into your pants,... in that sense."

She rolled her eyes, "They are from an ex, I just never got rid of them. They don't look like they will be too big on you, you can use your own belt if they are."

The Original continued to look skeptical but she turned away from him to step into a pair of jean capris, he'd either have to try the jeans or wear his damp dress pants. Rae was going to see about some answers before they went to the complex, she had a feeling he didn't want her to go alone.