25. The Dance

Elena held Stefan's hand tightly as she walked through the Lockwood grounds. She had Damon's description of Klaus in her head – he'd failed to come up with a picture – and she kept looking around, her heart leaping every time she saw an unfamiliar blond head.

Damon flanked her on her other side, also looking for Klaus. When they reached the crowd inside, he nodded at them.

"Stay together."

He walked off, and Elena heaved a sigh. "Somehow these parties just aren't fun anymore."

"We only have to get through tonight," Stefan reassured her. "If we stay where it's crowded, it'll be harder for him to get to you unnoticed."

She nodded. They were in the main ballroom now. The champagne was flowing, waiters moved around serving cocktails and canapés, and a group of violinists were playing classical music. No one was dancing yet, but she knew the drinks would loosen everyone up.

"Do you think Elijah's here?" she asked, scanning the room again.

"I don't know. Maybe he'll turn up with his brother."

She picked up a cocktail, narrowly avoiding knocking one of the glasses over, and sighed. She was wearing white. The evening had barely started and Elena was already regretting her choice of dress. Stefan wrapped an arm around her waist while they watched the party going on around them. Now they only had to wait.

A few minutes later, Caroline appeared, leaning in to whisper to them.

"Bonnie and I have searched everywhere. No sign of any Originals."

Elena nodded. "Thanks, Caroline."

"You look gorgeous, by the way. That is a fabulous dress."

She gave a tired smile. "Thank you. You look great too."

It was Caroline's way of trying to cheer her up, she knew. But that moment was short-lived. Elena's gaze moved past her friend as she spotted a familiar figure entering the ballroom. Her mother, Isobel. Elena's mouth turned dry. Wherever her mother was, Klaus was sure to follow.

Stefan's hand tightened around her waist as Isobel approached them.

"Isobel," he said coldly.

Isobel inclined her head at all of them, including Caroline, who looked surprised. Elena realized that Caroline hadn't actually encountered Isobel before – at least not knowing that she was Elena's mother. The three vampires sized each other up. Caroline clenched her fists and Stefan's eyes were burning into Isobel's, but her mother ignored them.

"I'm glad you showed up," she said to Elena. "But you'd better watch your company. Klaus gets jealous."

"If he has a problem with the company Elena keeps, he can tell us himself," Stefan replied.

Isobel's smile didn't reach her eyes. She turned to Caroline. "Didn't Klaus pay your mother a visit? How is she?"

Elena suppressed a gasp, looking quickly at Caroline. Her friend had turned white. She hoped desperately that Isobel was only trying to get a rise out of them.

"She's fine," said Caroline, her voice tight. "Not that it's any of your business."

Stefan stepped forward, and Elena almost shivered at the menace in his voice. "We know why you're here. So why don't you stop playing games and go back to your master before I rip your heart out."

Isobel swallowed, her poise slipping for the first time. Finally, she looked at Elena, and Elena thought she could see tears shining in her birth mother's eyes.

"I'm sorry for what Klaus is about to do to you," Isobel said.

Her stomach dropped. Wordlessly, Elena watched Isobel turn and disappear into the crowd. Then she looked at Stefan and Caroline, seeing identical worried expressions on their faces. There was a pregnant pause before they all spoke at once.

"You shouldn't–" Elena began.

Caroline made an 'um' sound that she couldn't hear properly, but Stefan cut her off.

"We have to call this off," he said.

"No!" Elena said. "No, you heard Isobel. He's expecting me to be here. If he doesn't get what he wants–"

"If he gets what he wants, you'll be dead." Stefan's eyes were blazing. "I can't... I can't just stand by and let that happen."

"Stefan, you know..." She dropped her voice, looking around. She couldn't say anything about Bonnie, not when Isobel was probably listening somewhere nearby, and who knew if Klaus had other spies. "He's not going to kill me tonight," she said instead. "Don't risk him hurting any of you."

Next to her, Caroline bit her lip as she fished her phone out of her bag. Elena frowned at her. "What are you doing?"

"Calling my mom," Caroline mumbled. She lifted the phone to her ear and raised her other hand at them. "'Scuse me."

Elena nodded, understanding, and Caroline hurried off. They had to take every potential threat seriously. She sighed, brushing her hair out of her face. They weren't prepared for this, not really. Even with her last minute effort to guarantee the lives of her friends there were still too many ways it could all go wrong. Klaus had arrived in town too early. They weren't ready.

Stefan was pleading with her. "We can hide you, we can protect you. You don't have to go through with this."

She shook her head. "I'm not leaving."

She couldn't run like Katherine. Elena knew that. So Stefan stayed with her, and in the meantime the party continued. She wandered around the mansion hand-in-hand with Stefan, both of them tense and vigilant, and she felt entirely cut off from the people enjoying the evening around her. She saw Matt dancing with a girl she didn't know. A few minutes later, Damon and Bonnie came up to them with grim faces to report that there was no news. Caroline texted her to say that her mom was fine, which eased her anxiety a little – but only a little. Everywhere she turned she expected Klaus to appear, and her nerves were fraying into pieces.

Elena finished off her fourth drink and wiped her mouth. Suddenly she felt suffocated, oppressed by this awful crowd.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

Stefan nodded. "I'll wait outside."

Alone at last – though she checked all the stalls just in case Klaus might be lurking there like the bogeyman waiting to jump out – Elena gripped the sink with both hands and stared into the mirror. All of her carefully applied make-up disguised the worry lines on her face. She'd curled her hair and chosen high heeled shoes; her dress flowed down to her calves, as light and fragile as she currently felt.

Everyone here was looking out for her.

She hated being this horribly important. She didn't deserve it. All she had done was wear another woman's face.

She looked like Katherine.

It all came back to that. She looked in the mirror and saw Katherine's face – the smoky make-up, the curls – they only added to the effect. There had been another girl too, long, long ago. A girl she didn't even know, but Elena wore a face that had been twice handed down.

She was a copy, a tool. That had been her reality ever since she had first heard the word doppelgänger, ever since she had seen that picture of Katherine. All these vampires who wanted a piece of her. She only had so much to give.

Her chest felt tight. She took long deep breaths, her knuckles turning white as they gripped the basin, and when she felt calm enough, she washed her hands, lifted her chin, and walked back out to face the music.

"Where is he?" said Bonnie.

"I don't know." Damon sounded as exasperated as she felt.

"Do you think he was tricking us? Maybe he wanted to lure us here for some reason when really he's somewhere else."

She thought of Jenna and Jeremy, alone in the Gilbert house, and of her father – who knew nothing of vampires – and Caroline's mother, whose home had been invaded by Klaus. They'd already had a scare from Isobel about that. Any of them were potential targets. Then there was Alaric too; he wasn't at this party, though at least he had his ring.

"If he is, we'll just have a few drinks and then go home," said Damon. His gaze darkened as he spotted someone behind her. "Well, there's one Original."

Bonnie turned sharply to see Elijah walking up to them.

"Bonnie," he greeted her. "I have news about your mother."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"She called. She'll be in Mystic Falls by tomorrow."

Bonnie was speechless. She could feel her heart racing in her chest. Her mother. Abigail Bennett. She had disappeared when Bonnie was only seven years old and her memories of her mother were hazy at best. She wasn't even sure if her strongest memory of her mother was real or if it had been Grams. She remembered the two of them baking apple crumble together; the way her mother's hands kneaded the mix, and the smell of the crumble – she remembered that vividly. It had been both sharp and soft: the tang of the apple, the warm smell of baking; it felt fresh and familiar at the same time. She didn't know why that particular sense memory stood out so much. Her dad rarely spoke about her mom, but from what little he had said, Bonnie had gathered that her mother was not particularly a domestic woman. Baking didn't seem to be her thing.

She supposed that spell-casting was, though she hadn't known it then, and she had no memory of her mother ever doing anything that might be magic.

She didn't really know her mother at all.

Bonnie blinked, her eyes wet, and realized that Damon was speaking.

"So, Elijah. Bonnie and I were just wondering why your brother is late. Isn't he the guest of honour? Maybe you should be worried."

Elijah smiled. "My brother will be here. When he arrives, I'd advise you to stay out of his way. And mine."

"Duly noted," said Damon.

"Enjoy your evening."

Elijah walked off, Bonnie staring after him. "He found my mother. I can't believe it..."

Damon finished off his drink. "I wouldn't until she's actually here. So, your mother's a powerful witch, huh?"

"I don't know. I didn't know that she was a witch until after she left."

When Grams had told her about her heritage, Bonnie had tried to think back, to remember something. Any incident that might have seemed normal at the time, but could have been a hint to the person her mother really was. But she hadn't been able to think of anything.

Damon looked at her. "You don't talk about your family much."

"That's because there's only my dad. And I've been trying to keep him out of this." She shook her head, putting her empty glass down when a waiter walked past with a tray. "That can wait until tomorrow. Elijah says that Klaus will be here. We'd better do the rounds again."

Elena and Stefan returned to the main ballroom to find themselves forced to the edges: the room was now full of couples dancing. With the men all in suits and the women in gowns, it was quite impressive to watch, if only she could just relax.

Normally she'd cajole Stefan into dancing. She glanced over at him. He was frowning, eyes sweeping the room again. It was true that here by the buffet table was a better vantage point. Maybe they'd better not.

"See anyone different?" she asked.

"Not yet."

She looked over to the ballroom entrance where people were filtering in and out, and her heart leapt. Elijah had arrived. His gaze swept over the crowd once, then his eyes found hers and he made his way over.

"Elena," he said, holding out his hand, "may I have this dance?"

She blushed, startled, and glanced at Stefan again. But Elijah's gaze was serious, and though Stefan didn't look happy, he made no objection.

She nodded and took his hand. Elijah led her out to the dance floor, and Elena felt ridiculous at how much her heart was palpitating simply from holding his hand. Then Elijah slipped a hand around her waist, drawing her close, and she almost couldn't breathe. She could just hear the music through the pounding in her ears. It was a slow, soft melody, the couples around them dancing a waltz, and Elena and Elijah fell into step with them.

She couldn't take her eyes off his face.

"Elena," he murmured. "Klaus is here."

At once all her emotions turned into pure fear. She swallowed a gasp. "Where?"

"He's watching us right now," said Elijah, slowly turning them around. "To the left of the violinists. Next to the woman in the red dress."

She held on to Elijah for dear life as he steered them through the dance. It was difficult to see past all the other couples dancing, but Elena craned her neck, glancing past the violinists – and there was a glimpse of red – and then–

She saw him only for a moment, but she thought that first moment would be forever burned into her memory. Klaus was smiling, and his eyes seemed to pierce straight through her. He was dressed much like the other men in a suit and tie; she wouldn't have picked him out if not for the way he was looking at her.

Like she belonged to him.

Elena swallowed, and looked back up at Elijah. "What is he going to do?"

"I don't know," Elijah murmured.

She tried to control her breathing. She'd thought that she was ready to face him, yet she didn't want Elijah to let her go. He was looking at her as intensely as he had been through the entire dance, and the force of it made her shiver, but she saw the moment that he retreated. His expression turned cold; the look in his eyes and the tilt of his head became purely predatory.

"I think it's time that you and Klaus met."

He twirled her around and then pulled her to him, his grip on her hand suddenly hard and unforgiving, and Elena understood but she still felt the sharp tug of fear shoot up her spine.

"No–" she said.

It was a half-hearted protest. Elijah pulled her away from the dance floor and Elena followed helplessly. He was taking her to Klaus.

She held on to Elijah's arm when they stopped in front of Klaus, and tried to stay calm. She didn't know where Stefan was. Part of her prayed that he wouldn't try to get involved in this. It was ironic, she thought, that her life had turned into a tug of war between two vampire brothers, as if everything that had happened with Damon and Stefan had only been preparation for this moment: the Original brothers, come to claim their prize.

"Well, hello," said Klaus, smiling. "You must be Elena."

She pressed her lips together to stop her mouth from trembling.

"I believe you wanted to lay eyes on your doppelgänger, brother," said Elijah. "Elena, please meet my brother, Klaus."

"Good of you to introduce us, Elijah. I have been so looking forward to this." He took her hand and kissed it, and Elena felt Elijah tense fractionally beside her. Klaus tilted his head. "What, nothing to say, sweetheart?"

"You've seen me," she said. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Of course not. Lovely as you undoubtedly are, Elena, I didn't intend to spend all night only watching you." He glanced up, eyes meeting Elijah's. "Brother, I suggest you make yourself scarce."

Don't let me go, Elena thought frantically. Please. She looked up at Elijah, her eyes begging him to stay, but he wouldn't meet her gaze.

Without a word, he nodded, and then he slipped his arm out of hers and vanished into the crowd, leaving Elena standing there alone. It was gut-wrenching. She felt betrayed. She stared at Klaus, and when he smiled and offered her his hand Elena had no choice but to take it.

Damon pushed his way through the throng, Bonnie hurrying behind him. He'd spotted Klaus walking in a minute or so earlier and now they were trying to keep up without attracting unwanted attention. Unfortunately, he knew this wouldn't be easy for him given that he and Klaus had already met.

"Damon."

He turned. Bonnie had stopped, her expression anxious.

"What?" He gestured at her furiously. "We're losing him!"

"I felt..." She lowered her voice as he stepped towards her. "There's another witch here."

"You mean me?"

They both looked up at the girl who had spoken. She was wearing a black sequinned party dress, and was arm-in-arm with a man also dressed all in black. Something about them felt familiar, but Damon couldn't quite pin down what. If she was a witch though, he was in trouble.

"Who are you?" Bonnie asked.

"Greta," she replied. "You must be Bonnie Bennett. And Damon Salvatore, of course."

The moment she said that, he realized exactly who these people were. Liz had mentioned two witches that were working for Klaus. One was the African-American girl, Greta. And her silent companion matched the description she had given of the other man.

Two enemy witches, and he only had Bonnie. They had to get out of here.

Bonnie's mouth opened in surprise, even as Damon tried to surreptitiously tug her away. "You're working with Klaus?"

She shrugged. "You have your vampire, I have mine. Sorry, love, but mine's better."

He knew it was coming. Greta turned her gaze on him, and it wasn't just a headache – it was blinding pain, worse than the migraines Bonnie gave him. He cried out, sinking down to the floor; he could barely think – his head was just noise –

He managed a gasp. "Bonnie, help!"

He heard Bonnie say, "Stop it!"

But whatever she was trying to do didn't work; she was outnumbered and outflanked, and the pain in his head didn't let up until finally he gave in and collapsed completely, blacking out.

Caroline wandered through the party feeling completely out of it. She was torn. Her mother was fine, or had been ten minutes ago when she'd called her, but Isobel's words kept ringing through her ears. What if it was a threat that she intended to carry out later? If something happened to her mom while Caroline wasn't there...

On the other hand, she was supposed to be distracting Elijah, and that meant staying here at the party. Elijah was at least pretending to be on their side, and if they believed Elena, he could be trusted. She didn't know. All she knew was that he was terrifying, but he had saved her from Katherine once. Sort of. And he could have killed her mother too, but he hadn't. Small mercies and all. So she didn't really know if it was safe to leave him alone or not.

The decision was made for her when she bumped into him emerging from the ballroom into the main entrance hall.

"Hey," she said. Then she wondered if she had been too informal. He was like vampire royalty. Would he expect her to curtsey or something?

He looked distracted too, like his thoughts were somewhere else completely, but the second he looked at her, she had his attention. At once she felt very small. Her heart leapt painfully.

"Are you looking for someone?" he asked.

"Actually, I was looking for you."

A minute pause. "No."

He said it like he expected her to get out of his way, just like that. When she didn't, he turned away from her, but Caroline hurried after him.

"Hey, wait. I just want to talk. Aren't you supposed to be on our side now?"

He looked sideways at her. "Here is not a good place to talk. If I were you, I would look for Stefan. Klaus had him removed from the ballroom."

They had reached the bottom of the grand staircase. A few people were sitting on the steps, sharing cocktails. She stopped short, her heart fluttering. "What? Then – what happened to Elena?"

"Klaus has her."

"No..."

Caroline looked around, distraught. Where were Bonnie and Damon? They were supposed to be making sure that Klaus didn't get to Elena alone. Then she looked up, to the top of the staircase, and saw a woman looking down, watching them both.

Her eyes widened. "Isobel..."

No sooner than Caroline had uttered the word, she felt a rush of air beside her, and blinked to see Elijah beside Isobel at the top of the staircase. At once he clamped his hand over her mouth and forced her across the landing. It was all so quickly and silently done that no one else noticed – but Caroline did, and she rushed up the staircase after them as fast as she could.

She found them in one of the guest bedrooms. Seeing Isobel helpless before Elijah should have been a moment of triumph, but instead she only felt nervous. Was he going to kill her? Caroline closed the door behind her with a soft click. Elijah took no notice of her; Isobel had his full attention.

"Where's Stefan?" Elijah asked.

"I put him in one of the rooms. He's safe."

"And Katerina?"

"She's not here. Klaus ordered her to stay behind."

"Where?"

Caroline watched in morbid fascination as Isobel mechanically recited the address for Elijah. Even vampires were powerless against Originals. Elijah finally ordered her to forget this encounter and leave, and Caroline stood aside as Isobel walked past in meek silence.

Caroline folded her arms. "You let her go?"

"Klaus will want her back."

She frowned, but he offered no further explanation. "Why did you ask her about Katherine?"

"Because I'm going to pay her a visit."

He started walking towards the door and Caroline plucked up the courage to get in his way. "Wait."

He looked at her and she suddenly realized that they were alone. She gulped. It wasn't a comforting thought.

"Take your friends home," Elijah told her, not unkindly. "I'll take care of Elena. Now if you'll excuse me..."

He brushed past her, leaving Caroline confused and unsure what to do. Should she follow him? She turned around, biting her lip, but he had already vanished. No, he was right. She needed to find her friends. Stefan was here somewhere. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, before beginning her search of the rooms.

"You can't kill me," Katerina said. "Klaus won't allow it. I'm working for him now."

Of course that would be the first thing she said. Elijah had found her exactly where Isobel had said she would be, lounging in the living room of a very expensive and supposedly unoccupied house, looking bored out of her mind. That had changed the moment he appeared. She was looking at him with fear and mingled hope – as if she thought he might help her.

Elijah didn't bother to respond. He caught her gaze, ensnaring her at once.

"Give me your phone."

She frowned, confused, but did as he said. He didn't explain himself. His intention was to get this over with as quickly as possible, because he was aware every second that he had left Elena with Klaus, and that thought disturbed him more than it should have.

"So what have you been doing for Klaus?" Elijah asked without much interest. Most of his attention was on Katerina's phone.

"Wrong question. Why don't you ask what he's been doing to me?"

"Go on." He flicked through her phonebook, scrolling down until he found the name that he wanted, and then copied the number to his own phone.

"He's been torturing me all day." There was a hint of desperation to her voice now. "And other things I can't talk about. You don't want me compelled by Klaus, do you?"

"It's no more than you deserve."

He glanced up for just a moment to see her reaction: she swallowed, holding back tears, and then her face hardened.

"Right," she said. "After running away to escape being sacrificed by a deranged Original, I completely deserved to be hunted down for the next five hundred years by said Original and his lying, sanctimonious older brother. What was my crime? Trying to save my own life?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Sanctimonious, really? If that were so, I would kill you quickly, Katerina. As it is, I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of my brother."

He handed back her phone with a smile, and Katerina shook her head. "Please–"

He leaned forward a fraction. "When Klaus's compulsion breaks, you will return to me. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

"You won't remember that we had this encounter. Now return to whatever it is that you were doing."

Katerina took a deep, shuddering breath, and turned away. Elijah didn't wait to see what she'd do. He was already gone.

Klaus took Elena outside, to where a fresh breeze chilled her skin, and strings of lanterns threw long shadows across the lawns. Nearby, a fountain bubbled. She could see the nearest people over by the water – a couple talking to each other. Too far away to notice what was going on. Too far away to help.

"What do you want with me?"

He sat down on a low wall, patting the stone beside him until she sat down too. "I merely have a few questions, love."

She said nothing. Refused to look at him.

"First of all, Elijah tells me that you don't intend to run. Now why is that?"

"Because I know what will happen if I do," she whispered.

He chuckled. "Ah, you got the life story from Katerina, did you?"

"I got enough."

"Very wise." He leaned towards her, brushing her curls away from her face, and Elena shuddered when she felt his breath at her ear. "This is a pretty thing." His fingers snaked down to her collarbone before lifting up her necklace. He hissed when the locket touched his skin, burning him. "Vervain. I see. So I can't compel you, unless of course I take it off..."

Her heart was thundering in her chest. Elena closed her eyes, wishing for a moment that he would compel her and make her forget, so that she wouldn't have to remember whatever she was about to go through. He was still playing with the chain of her necklace, avoiding the locket. But he didn't remove it.

His thumb and finger gripped her jaw, forcing her to look at him. "Don't think I'm unaware of all the vampires here who would try to stop me," Klaus whispered. "One word from me and they will all be dead."

"One move like that from you," she whispered back, "and I will kill myself. I'm coming to you willingly on one condition, Klaus. My friends and family won't get hurt."

"Oh, yes, I heard about that. Clever tactic, Elena. I doubt that you could do it, but points for trying."

"You shouldn't underestimate me. Your brother did, and it almost got him killed."

He let her go and leaned back, curious. "I'm sensing a story here."

Her jaw was aching where he had held it. She was fairly sure that his finger marks would leave bruises. But she looked at him, and kept her voice low and even, determined not to show any weakness.

"Elijah called my bluff when I threatened to kill myself too. Why don't you ask him how that turned out?"

"I'll be sure to." He still looked delighted, eyes gleaming, and Elena was afraid that she'd impressed him. "Of course," he went on, "I'm not my brother. I know Elijah. So restrained. Did he ever tell you our family history?"

She didn't reply. Elijah had told her something of his history with Klaus, enough so that she understood about the curse and the sacrifice. He hadn't gone back further than Katherine, and she hadn't asked. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know about the girl who came before both of them.

"I'll take that as a no," said Klaus, who was searching her face intently as though he might glean her thoughts. "Well, he wouldn't. The girl whose face you wear, she was as beautiful as she was poisonous. She cursed me. She haunted Elijah."

Elena remained tight-lipped, but she couldn't help listening. She was drinking in every word.

"Her name was Tatia," Klaus went on, almost dreamily. "We were close, she and I. She was from a neighbouring family, and she used to visit our father's estate every week. Then she and Elijah met, and my brother fell for her almost instantly. He went about everything the proper way: he courted her, he sought her father's approval, and when he proposed she accepted."

Elena couldn't have spoken even if she had wanted to. Klaus's words resounded in her ears. Tatia. Hearing this girl's name made her feel more real somehow: she had existed, she had a name, and she had walked through the world wearing Elena's face.

And Elijah had been in love with her.

It twisted her heart, knowing that. The memories she stirred in Elijah must have been complicated, precious ones. As Stefan and Damon had seen Katherine in her, the Originals looked at her and saw Tatia. Their first impression was never of her. It was always of someone else – she was the copy, the doppelgänger.

Stefan and Damon had learned to see her in her own right. She thought that Elijah had too.

But while she was with Klaus, she was still only the doppelgänger. He was telling his story with an air of indulgence, as if reminiscing more to himself than to her.

"Unfortunately, they were never married. Before the wedding, a few things happened. We turned into vampires. I was cursed. That sort of thing. It's a long story; I get bored of repeating it. Where was I? Yes – ever since then, I've been trying to break the curse. It's been my one goal. Elijah knows that, meaning he knows how important you are, Elena."

His voice dropped when he said her name, drawing it out. Elena shivered.

"He'd deny himself what he really wants in order to take care of you, to hand you over whole for the sacrifice..." Klaus leaned in again, and whispered: "Me, I'm much more of a 'take what I want' kind of guy."

She saw the telltale veins darkening around his eyes, the scarlet flashing in his irises. She was too terrified to make a sound. No one was here to save her. Elena had been attacked by vampires before, had almost died several times before, and always there had either been someone there to save her or she had been able to defend herself. Tonight, she had nothing.

She expected him to lunge at her; every fibre of her being trembled in anticipation of an attack. But Klaus grinned, showing his fangs, and snaked an arm around her waist.

"Come here, sweetheart."

She shook her head, finding her voice. "No – please–" Too late she tried to scrabble away from him; Klaus pulled her into his lap with no effort at all, and then she felt his mouth on her neck.

His fangs sank easily into her throat, and Elena whimpered with the pain of it. She wasn't sure how much he drank. She only knew that he wasn't going to drain her, not yet. She was trapped in his embrace, and he drew it out horribly, slowly, as if savouring her. It was far worse than any violence. It was far too intimate. One of his hands slipped down her waist to toy with the fabric of her dress, and Elena tried to hold still, not to tremble, because any movement only made the pain worse. She submitted because there was nothing else she could do, and she understood with horrid certainty that this was only a precursor to the final act; that Klaus was showing her just how powerless she was.

She was not a person to him. She was a toy.

Her dress had ridden above her thighs, and Elena was trying to numb herself, to black it out so that she didn't have to feel, when she felt Klaus's lips leave her throat. She took a deep breath, like someone nearly drowned breaking the surface at last. The wound on her neck still hurt, but it was a dull, throbbing pain, not the terrible leeching of her blood being sucked away.

"Oh, here he is," Klaus rasped. "You just can't stay away, can you, brother?"

The word 'brother' reverberated through her veins, and Elena looked up as Klaus lifted her to her feet. Elijah. He was standing only a few feet away, regarding them both with distaste. Klaus had smoothed down her dress as he picked her up, as if to cover her modesty – as if he wasn't the reason she was in such a mess – and to her shame, she felt her cheeks burn. She was bleeding, bruised; one of Klaus's hands was tangled in her hair, the other wrapped around her waist.

Elijah saw it all and his face gave away nothing.

"I'm here to make sure you haven't broken her," he replied.

"Don't be so uptight. Of course I haven't. I'm merely sampling her. A taster before the main course under the full moon..."

Elena shuddered, glancing up at Klaus. His lips were bloody as he grinned. He twisted Elena's head, exposing the open wound on her neck to Elijah.

"Would you like a taste, brother?" Klaus whispered.