Chapter 88

A/N Alert. This chapter contains sexual assault and the subject of slavery. I didn't go into great detail about these things.

It was after the early chores were done and breakfast was almost over that Elijah felt restless. Kol and Barbara were acting silly and she giggled, which the older brother now found irritating. Freya said something to Rebekah and they chuckled. Again, irritating. He went outside and stood on the back porch. The morning light should have been bright, but due to the frosted dome, it was not. It seemed to him that, all of a sudden, nothing was right. The other four were partnered up, while he was alone. It didn't seem fair.

Feeling the need to burn off his growing discontent, he went to the woodshed. The place was the most useful for him and for Kol to work off energy. But after a few minutes, he found that his restlessness was intensifying. He wanted to attack someone, or one of the animals, and take more than a few swallows of blood. He also noted that he wanted a woman. There were three of them in the house, but he didn't feel free to use them, even though it was possible Barbara would agree. He tried to push those thoughts from his mind.

Why am I feeling this way? he wondered as his heart started to pound. He was definitely becoming sexually aroused and he headed for the privy to try to relieve that tension. It only took a few minutes for him to realize that relief was not happening. This was not good and he muttered curses. He didn't want to walk around in front of his family in an obvious state of arousal. In addition, it didn't feel good. He himself didn't feel good.

A feeling of desperation swept over him. Blood! He needed human blood! With pounding heart, he left the privy and started pacing around in the yard. He didn't dare go back in the house and he hoped none of the women came outside. His urge to grab one of them and abuse her was frighteningly strong. Hell, he would even take Kol if he could!

Frantic, he jogged past the stone wall and downhill toward the barn. The hens scattered before him and the rooster puffed its feathers and glared at him. He ignored them as fear tightened his throat. His vampire self was taking over! Not his usual hunger, but the savage urges of his past, a past filled with episodes of drinking blood, raping and killing. He mustn't let those impulses overcome him in this enclosed place. How could he stop it?

And then there was a woman. Seeing her suddenly appear, Elijah came to a stunned halt. He quickly noted that she was a dark-skinned Black woman, perhaps right from some African country, considering the time period. She was dressed as he knew many house slaves were dressed, reasonably well, with a cloth covering her hair. She stood absolutely still, her arms at her sides and terror in her eyes. He could understand her terror because he knew he was now wearing his vampire face – fangs down, eyes glowing red and dark veins showing on his face.

He hesitated but a moment before he moved to her in a blur, grabbed her around the waist, and carried her into the nearby barn. She gasped and whimpered, but didn't scream as he dropped her on her back on the dirt of the barn floor and raised her skirts. As he expected, she had no underwear on. It took him no time to shuck his pants and shorts down, and then he was on her, in her. Saliva flooded his mouth as he drove fangs into the side of her neck and gulped down the blood that pumped into this mouth. The relief he had been seeking came to him in a rush of ecstasy – at both ends.

"Do not kill her," came a command in a female voice.

Suddenly, his craziness ceased. Silence seemed to surround him and he felt slightly disoriented. He looked down at his victim and found her unconscious. He knew she was not dead, but she had apparently fainted either from fright or blood loss. A slight noise to his side startled him and he looked. His sister Freya stood there. He felt both embarrassment and suspicious anger.

"Did you do this to me? Why?" he accused, puzzled. Still on his knees, he frowned up at her.

"No, I didn't. I would guess that whoever sent her was behind the situation," Freya said.

Elijah was amazed that he had not even thought of that. Of course it made sense, now that she had voiced her opinion. Still feeling a bit dazed, he pulled down the woman's dress, decently covering her. Then, knowing his bare butt was showing, he stood up, turned his back to his sister and righted his own clothes.

"Where are the others?" None of the other siblings had arrived to check out the situation. Maybe they had not even noticed when he had been pacing about like a caged tiger.

"I think they are still in the house. I saw you moving around like something was really bothering you and I came outside to speak to you, but you had already moved past the wall and scooped her up and taken her to the barn. As a rapist, you're fast, my brother."

"I was desperate and out of control," he admitted, staring down at his victim. He hated to be out of control. He prided himself on being the steady sibling. He took a linen handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. There was blood around his mouth and on his chin. There was blood on the woman's neck and shoulder, but any active bleeding had stopped.

"How are you feeling now?" Freya asked, watching him closely.

"I honestly am not sure. I certainly feel sexual relief. And her blood was wonderful. I still can feel it, and yet the whole experience was a bit unnerving. For a while there, I was frantic."

"I saw you out the window and I could tell you were in trouble," his sister admitted, a frown of concern on her face.

The woman lying on the ground stirred and moaned. She opened her eyes and looked at each of the white people. Fearing further abuse, she sat up and scrambled away from them and into a stall. Freya moved to a point where she could see the woman cowering in the hay piled there.

"I'm not going to hurt you. What is your name?"

The woman didn't answer. More fear showed on her face when Elijah moved into her line of sight. He repeated Freya's question and got no answer.

"Maybe she is deaf," he said.

"I don't think so. She did look at you when you spoke and now she's looking at me."

"Perhaps she does not speak English. There are so many African languages, there's no telling what she normally speaks. I would assume she speaks one of the western African languages."

"Do you?" Freya asked.

"A few words here and there. But let me try French instead," Elijah said. When he had attacked her, he had not considered conversation with the woman something he needed to do. In French he now asked, "Do you speak French?"

He and Freya were surprised when the woman nodded hesitantly.

Fluent in the language of France, both modern and older, he asked the woman's name. After a moment, she said she was called Claudette, but that was not her real name. Elijah and Freya guessed that her real name was her African name.

"We will call you Claudette," Freya told her in French. "There are other people here. We speak English to each other. Do you understand?"

The woman nodded, but then she started saying other things in her own language. She was obviously upset, glaring at Elijah. He made no effort to apologize for what he had done. He was now sure he had been under someone's control, probably the same witch that had sent Damon Salvatore to them. Was Mikael behind all this? Perhaps.

The rest of the group came dashing into the barn and halted close to the two older siblings.

"We couldn't get out of the house!" Kol bellowed. "Some damned forcefield! Who is she?"

"An unexpected arrival," Elijah said.

"She's got blood on her neck," Rebekah noted. "You fed on her! What else did you do?" Her eyes swept over his clothes. He had not tucked his shirt into his pants very well.

"Well, brother," Kol said with a smirk. "Looks like you finally got yourself a woman." He put his arm around Barbara possessively, and he hoped he would not have to share his woman anymore.

The older brother didn't say anything. Instead, he used a hand gesture to the victim and motioned her to stand and accompany him. Somewhat reluctantly, she stood, reaching out to the wall of the stall to steady herself. As if for protection from her attacker, she moved closer to Freya, who told her she was safe now. The woman didn't look convinced, but she followed Freya as she led the group to the house. As a slave amid these white strangers, one of them a monster and rapist, Claudette did not feel safe at all.

A/N So, is the new woman a gift to Elijah or is she there to cause problems somehow? Thanks for reading the story, everyone. And thanks to the guest reader for the review.