"Nessie? Are you sure you're all right?"

I nodded again and smiled weakly. "I just need some air."

Klaus took my hand and led me outside to the garden. He chose a very dark corner where he was sure nobody would hear us. I trusted him, I mean, he did have the greatest supernatural hearing of us all.

"What happened?" he demanded.

I shook my head. I leaned against the nearest tree and tried to get my bearings. Klaus stepped closer to me, so close his face was almost touching mine. He inhaled, very delicately. Then he turned his eyes away.

"You're missing him?" he asked softly. I didn't answer. I couldn't. Klaus hugged me and I was so surprised I let him. He was so warm. I felt my eyes closing again.

Apparently, once you got used to regular and spectacular sex, your body developed a mind of its own when it was deprived of that recreation. My body begged me to knock the bad brother on the ground so it could have its way with him. Right here, right now.

I wouldn't open my eyes, because if I did, I would see the impulse mirrored in his face, the inclination, however little it was, and that would be all it would take.

But he was so warm. Oh, god. Make a choice,my other self told me. Get out of proximity or jump his bones.

I pushed him away and he stumbled surprised. "What is the matter with you?"

"I'm sorry," I panted. "I just... I'm freaking out!"

"I can see that."

I rolled my eyes. "We should go back inside. We need to continue... what we are doing." I started moving, but he held me.

"What happened in there? Why are you so..." he seemed a lost for words.

I sighed. "I just... Sometimes I think... What am I doing? Are we good? Is Elijah... good? Because sometimes I see only evil around me. And I don't know why."

Klaus stood still as a statue. "I've seen quite a lot in my time," he said. "The world is a rather awful place, Nessie. Best to meet it on its own terms, I always say."

"But... it can't be like that. We can't be like that. The world isn't awful. People are not awful. Something must make them like this. We want to be good, don't we? That's all we want."

"That's all you want, perhaps," he shrugged. "Over the the course of my life, I've encountered no shortage of those who would presume to speak of good and evil. Such terms mean nothing. People do what is in their best interest regardless of who gets hurt. But I'll tell you this, Nessie. My enemies are not Elijah's enemies. They call him the Honorable One. The Noble Brother. He has earned his reputation, as have I." He stepped closer and placed his forehead on mine. "Know this: if Aro has Elijah, I will get him back and you'll be together again, if that is what you want."

"That doesn't sound like the Evil One," I noticed.

He laughed. "Is it evil to take what one wants to satisfy hunger even if doing so will cause another suffering?"

"Yes."

"What some would call evil I believe to be an appropriate response to a harsh and unfair world. If it's going to take me being my usual evil self to get my brother back, then that's what I'll do. But I will also be your friend. As long as I can be your friend without jeopardizing my own life. Or the future of my kingdom."

"Nice." I pushed him away more delicately this time. "Thank you for your honesty."

"Thank you for yours."

I thought of the secrets I was keeping and smiled. "You're welcome."

The rest of the party was a blur. Aro kept surrounding me to remind me of how beautiful I looked. Rebekah had vanished, and I assumed that was a good sign. She was probably gathering info about Elijah's whereabouts. Klaus disappeared for a while as well, but he promised he would keep an eye on me at all times even if I couldn't see him.

I wasn't sure I believed him, but he came back for me and told Aro he would be taking me to bed. They exchanged a knowingly smile that made me sick.

It took me a little longer than usual to fall asleep. I was far away from home, surrounded by monsters who would love to kill me, and there was still no news of Elijah. Plus, I was sharing a bed with a hot hybrid who apparently I couldn't touch without losing my mind or being dragged to the depth of his haunted soul.

When I was just at that cusp between waking and dreaming, I felt Klaus' arm across my waist. I was on my back, so comfortable I could not contemplate moving.

The nightmares I had, I blamed it on his touch.

Elijah was standing near a clearing and he looked exactly like I had seen him in Klaus' memories. He smiled when he saw me approach but he still looked sad. I pointed that out to him.

"You are fated to love another," he told me.

Part of me had no idea what he was talking about. The other part was sure he meant Klaus.

"Fate does not dictate my heart, Elijah." I realized it wasn't me controlling that body though I was inside it. "I can make my own choices. And I choose to give my heart once more to someone strong, protective, fierce, and yet noble and gentle." Her hand – my hand – touched his face and he closed his eyes to enjoy the caress. "I choose you Elijah."

Then he kissed her or me, and I remembered all too well how that felt.

The dreamed changed to that same memory I had seen before of Klaus sitting naked surrounded by bodies. But the dialogue was different this time.

"It seems this affliction can only be passed by some kind of conception," Elijah was telling Klaus.

"And do our siblings share this affliction? Do you share this affliction?"

Elijah's silence was open to interpretation.

"He is not my father, is he?"

Elijah grabbed his brother's arms. "You listen to me. This changes nothing for any of us. We are here for you as we shall be always."

A noise caught his attention. Elijah looked up and saw me watching them through the trees. I wasn't controlling the body – she was – so we ran. I could hear them coming after me. "Tatia," Elijah called. I tripped and fell hard on my face.

"Stay away from me!" I commanded.

Elijah looked so sad I scolded her – this Tatia – in our mind. "I won't hurt you," he promised and I believed him immediately. But she didn't. She backed away from him.

"What have you become?"

"I'm who I've always been," he told us. "I'm the one who loves you."

"Your mother asked me for my blood. She said nothing about the dark magic that would turn you into a monster."

"Look at me," he asked of us. "I'm not a monst-" Something made him stop. His eyes dropped to my hand. I followed and saw the blood – we were bleeding badly. Elijah inhaled sharply. His fangs appeared. His face turned dark. "Tatia..." he whispered. "I won't hurt you. I don't want to."

Even seeing him like that I was sure. He is not going to hurt us, stupid, I told her, but she didn't listen. She gasped right about the time he whispered, "Run."

And we did. But it didn't matter. Within seconds he was on us. He grabbed our hair, tilted our head and bit our neck with such fury I was surprised it didn't just snap. We screamed, we fought against his terrible, terrible strength, but he sucked our blood fast and hard and life left us before Klaus came out of the shadows and jumped his brother.

Stupid indeed.