The sun, hot on the bare skin of my back, woke me in the morning. Late morning, maybe afternoon, I wasn't sure. Everything besides the time was clear, though; I knew exactly where I was. I felt, at once, as if last night had been my birthday – wasn't I showered with gifts of pleasure?

Lying across his wintry chest, his arms wound around me, felt very easy and natural. I didn't open my eyes. I was too happy to change anything, no matter how small. His fingers softly trailed down the contours of my spine, and I knew that he knew I was awake. I kept my eyes shut and tightened my arms around his neck, holding myself closer to him.

His fingers moved up and down my back, barely touching it as he lightly traced patterns on my skin. I would've stayed there forever, but my stomach growled. "You just can't escape being human for very long." The sound of his voice, serious and husky, brought with it a deluge of memories from the night, and I felt a blush color my face and neck.

I opened my eyes; the first thing I saw was the pale, almost silvery skin of his throat, the arc of his chin above my face. His jaw was taut. I propped myself up on my elbow so I could see his face. Gosh, he was so beautiful.

My thoughts jumbled together as I sat up. Oh, I hurt all over. My joints were stiff and my muscles heavy. Not to mention the soreness between my legs. But Elijah and I made everything right. Sure I was a little uncomfortable, but boy, did I feel powerful.

He watched me silently and I could pick some things from his touch. He was thinking about my eyes. He was struck silent with amazement. And with love. He had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. I trembled. Again, our feelings matched perfectly.

Elijah leaned back and I rested my head against his chest. It was cold and silent. I was used to that. It was the beating hearts that surprised me nowadays.

We spent the entire day lying there exchanging war stories. We reached levels where we were completely and utterly truthful with each other. We discovered things. He wanted to know what I was, what made me especial and I told him. How my mother had conceived and carried me while she was still human. How it almost killed her.

"Half mortal, half immortal," he muttered. He wasn't surprise at what I was, he knew it was something like that. But he admitted never knowing it could happen. Vampires having babies, that was. He'd never heard of anything like that, which worried him. "It can't be as rare as we think." I got what he was saying. Vampires were always sleeping with humans. Some would feed on them and leave them to die. Some would turn them into vampires. But some would let them go.

I told him about my entire life, how ordinary it was even with all the supernatural things that surrounded me, even with my immortality. I told him how young I really was, and how after my birth I had grown at an exceptional pace, mentally and physically, which was why my parents still saw me a their baby and tried their best to protect me.

"Anyone who knows you," he said, "would want to protect you."

In exchange, Elijah told me many things about himself. How after the loss of his first child, Elijah's father had become very strict and all his children feared him. "He was hard on all of us, but he was the hardest on Niklaus, whom he saw as weak."

"That's the narcissistic one you told me about?" I asked because apparently Elijah had a whole bunch of siblings.

He nodded. Elijah told me they lived among werewolves for about twenty years and how, during the full moon, the humans would simply hide in the underground caves while the werewolves turned. I made note of that to tell Jacob. He didn't know much about his own lineage.

One night after the full moon, Niklaus came out of the woods, holding their dead little brother, Henrik, in his arms. To ensure that she wouldn't lose the rest of her family, Elijah's mom, who was one of the most powerful witches in history, used a spell to make her children immortal.

"However, nature retaliated against us," said Elijah, his voice barely louder than a whisper, "and, for every strength, there was a weakness, none stronger than the desire for what had made us immortal-"

"Human blood?" He agreed. I tried to wrap my mind around what he was telling me. "So –

So what you are saying is that – that you and your family -"

"We were the very first vampires, yes."

I took a deep breath. I knew my mouth was hanging open, but I didn't have the control to close it. What the hell, was all I was thinking. In a loop. Carlisle surely didn't know about this, no one did. The very first vampires. And I had found one. Not only found, I was irrevocably in love with him.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Is this – too much?"

"No!" I sat forward. "Yes... I don't know." I glanced at his lovely features and my heart raced. I knew he could hear that – hell, I could hear it –, but I didn't care. There was nothing wrong with how I felt. Nor with who we were. Whether the miracle hybrid or the original vampire. "No." I said again, more firmly.

I thought a hot bath and some coffee would calm me down. My stomach growled louder this time and Elijah offered to cook for me. I didn't know he could do it, or if I trusted his abilities, but I agreed. After getting dressed, I went down.

It was such a strange old house, this one. I located the second stairway. I was wrapped in silence, and as I reached the dimly lit door at the top, I had the feeling I had entered some other world. It was a good feeling.

Elijah's food was a pleasant surprise. I ate until I couldn't anymore. Then Elijah handed my cellphone. "It rang a lot," said he. "I think you should pick up."

I pressed the button to hear one of the hundred messages. "Where are you?" my mother's voice rang in my ears. "We are looking for you everywhere! Alice saw you with him, Nessie, but we can't find you! Please, pick up the phone! I need to know if you're okay!"

I sighed. I had completely forgotten I had a family that worried about me.

"I need to go home," I said against my will.

Suddenly he was holding me. His arms tightened about me convulsively. He kissed me, his fingers tangled in my hair, and the universe shrank around me. Nothing existed but Elijah, and the feel of his arms around me, and the fire of his lips on mine.

A few minutes, or a few centuries later, we separated, both shaking. Our gaze remained connected and I saw his eyes were too dilated for even his dim kitchen's light. He looked dazed, and his mouth was swollen.

"I suppose you do," he agreed.

I nodded, dazzled myself. "But you can just hold me a little longer." He did as I required. It was so weird how I could go from extremely passionate to safe and peaceful. "I love you," I told him, partly because I couldn't help it, partly because it was true. I had watched my family for a long time. I had heard stories of how long my father was alone before he met my mother and how fast he was sure he couldn't live without her. I had learned we couldn't feel ashamed of our feelings, or afraid. There was only one chance and we had to grasp it without hesitating.

I felt a quiver go through him. He didn't move his lips, but his mind answered me. While I was speaking about myself I had told him about my abilities. He knew I knew. I could feel him loving me to a most desperate level.

I searched his face, the familiar clear lines and white matte complexion, the dark arches of his brows and proud line of his nose. Elijah's fangs were only slightly extended. I tilted my head up and he pressed his cold lips on mine. A wave of dark delight carried me out to that little sphere of happiness where nothing bad ever happened, where fear or hurt didn't belong. There was only me and him and our love.