Andy woke up with a splitting headache, which was how she knew that her Friday was going to be exceptionally shitty.
She hadn't gotten a hint of restful sleep, plagued by scant hints of the world as it was, and she had the misfortune of waking up before her alarm clock for the third time this week.
Well. At least she wouldn't be late for work.
She dragged herself out of bed, knowing that any further rest was a thing of fantasy, and set about making a very, very strong cup of coffee.
Andy's shift ended up being completely unremarkable, thank all that was holy, but her headache didn't recede. In fact, it only became worse. To the point that her manager let her leave nearly an hour early.
She decided to use that extra hour to take a nap. Even if she couldn't get any actual sleep, she could try to rest her eyes. She hadn't forgotten the fact that she had a 'consultation' with Elijah this evening, and she couldn't exactly rain check on him, no matter how badly she wanted to.
With that thought in mind, Andy set an alarm on her phone and collapsed onto her bed without changing out of her work uniform, and closed her eyes. She was determined to get at least a little shut eye.
Surprisingly, she was able to drift and relax for a while before the inevitable vision flashed into life.
Two ancient vampires, a man and a woman. The male vampire had a handsome, if weary, face and his companion, no, his mate, had bright blue eyes and even more vibrant red hair.
The man's face desiccated grey as a stake was driven through his chest. His lover's face contorted into rage and grief as she rushed at one of the perpetrators only for her to desiccate rapidly like her mate, and drop to the earth, dead.
Andy snapped awake and immediately went for her nightstand.
There were times when she had a vision that she knew would be vitally important. She didn't know exactly how she knew of their significance, maybe it was in the vibrancy of her Sight, or in the crispness of what she Saw, but she always just knew.
This was one of those times. She opened the top drawer and pulled out an old, beaten journal that was bound shut with a heavy bronze lock. She pressed her finger to the lock, not reacting as it pricked her finger, drawing forth a bead of blood. The lock heated for a moment, before splitting itself in two.
A magical lock and journal was an absolute must in this case. She didn't even want to imagine what could happen if someone stumbled into her visions.
Andy flipped through the thick pages, seeing dates, hand drawn images, and just paragraphs of writing. Some, like the date and time she had left her family, were always going to happen, some had been prevented, like the hand-drawn image of the car crash that could have killed her parents, and some, like the sketch of a sign saying Wickery Bridge, Mystic Falls, VA, Built 1912, she didn't know the significance of.
This vision fell into the latter territory.
Andy wondered, as she began to draw the angular lines of the male vampire's face, what this vision was about. Were they meant to die? Was she to keep this from happening?
She filled in the vampire's dark eyes, and traced out the proud arch of his cheekbones, lingering slightly on his sharp jawline.
He looked vaguely familiar. She had never Seen him or just seen him around before, but something about his face…she finished drawing him before moving on to the woman.
Andy started with the shape of her face, stretching out her basic foundation, before moving on to the details of her face. This one, she didn't recognize at all. But she'd remember her face, and that of her lover's, in case she ever ran across them.
Maybe then she'd know what to do with this information.
This was one of the things she hated most about being an Oracle. She had the power to change someone's life or ruin, or even end it, if she wanted to.
Sure, she had knowledge, but should she just not interfere and let life play out as it would, or should she change things? Where was the line drawn?
Andy had the power to play God with other people's lives. But being an Oracle didn't give her the right to do so.
She'd learned that the hard way.
Her phone went off, drawing her out of her ruminations.
5:30 PM. She was meeting with Elijah at 6:30.
Andy closed her journal and put it back.
Right. She just had to eat something, and then she would leave.
Andy stood in front of Elijah's door, in much better spirits than she was before.
There was nothing like a shower and some pain meds to make a girl feel better.
She decided to ignore the fact that her headache had begun to dull with every step she had taken to her present location. It was just as possible that her meds kicked in at a very convenient time.
The door swung open before she could even knock, probably courtesy of Elijah's vampiric hearing.
"Good evening, Andromeda."
He was wearing a suit, as Andy suspected was his custom. He stood to the side to allow her to walk in, and shut the door gently behind her.
"I guess you were too busy doing your mysterious vampire things to scare me at work again?"
"My 'mysterious vampire things', as you call it, did take up more time than I anticipated. Would you like a drink?"
He said this as he led her to the same sinfully comfortable group seats as last time she had been here.
"Could I have some water?"
A pretentious looking crystal glass full of water was placed in front of her in lieu of an answer. Andy downed half of it as quickly as was polite. She was many things, blunt and a bit foul mouthed being two of them, but she did have some manners.
Elijah took a seat across from her, an equally as pretentious glass of amber liquid in his hands.
"I trust you had no trouble getting here."
Andy got the feeling that he wasn't talking about getting lost, or having a bad run in with the apartment staff when he said 'trouble'.
"I wasn't stalked by any nefarious beings this time around, if that's what you're asking. What happened to those guys, by the way?"
Andy knew that they were in all likelihood dead, but she hadn't checked. She wanted to know for sure.
"They were disposed of, but not before saying something about a Cassandra?"
Elijah looked politely curious, but she thought that she could detect some legitimate interest in his voice. Andy debated with herself for a moment, before deciding to give a bit of an answer.
It wouldn't do any harm for him to know a little about her, would it? And he had already stated that he had an investment in keeping her safe as long as she owed him a vision, so he did deserve to know at least this much…
"Cassandra is my sister. We don't get along." Andy quickly continued talking, not wanting Elijah to ask her any questions about her turbulent relationship with her sister. Not that he had any leg to stand on, if the state of his siblings was any indication…
Besides, she could feel her headache trying to make a valiant return, and she wanted to get some sleep. The sooner this was over, the better.
"So, what was it you wanted me to See?"
Thankfully, he acceded to the subject change.
"The location of my brother Niklaus in exactly three months' time."
He paused, dark eyes studying Andy with a bit more intensity than she strictly wanted.
"...Forgive me for being so abrupt, but we can do this at another time if need be."
She took a second to respond, not surprised that Elijah had noticed her less than stellar state, but that he cared to accommodate her.
"No…no it's fine. I can do it now. I can do it without holding on to you this time."
She settled herself more comfortably in her chair without waiting for a response, and closed her eyes to See a beautiful woman writhing under the naked form of a well-muscled man whose face was buried in her neck. The woman let out a moan of abject pleasure and Andy noped right out of that fucking vision as soon as Oracley possible.
"Oh, gross. Ew."
Upside, her embarrassment was so strong that she could barely feel the burning in her eyes. Andy covered her face in a futile attempt to hide the furious blush on her face.
"Andromeda?"
He sounded almost…concerned. No. It couldn't be.
"You don't need to worry about Klaus catching you. He'll be…busy."
"...Ah. I see."
Was that laughter she was hearing in Elijah's voice? Andy risked a peak through her fingers, aware of the fact that she most likely looked ridiculous.
Yep, he was laughing at her. Smirking at her. Whatever. It was the same difference.
"You're a jerk."
Her words had no effect. If anything, he only looked more amused.
But the moment of levity died a quick death when Andy winced as her eyes burned for a moment, a brief, unwanted flash of the future flashing in her Sight- a voice, bearing a familiar accent, saying "So I shall", the quicksilver flash of a dagger…
She was broken out of it by Elijah's voice. He had the same accent as the voice, or at least she thought he did. Something for her to ponder later...
"Are you alright?"
She nodded her head, still keeping her eyes shut. "I'm fine, just had a bit of a headache from work."
"Andromeda. Please do not lie to me."
Andy generally tried to obey her fully functional self-preservation instincts. But her chronic pain and lack of sleep combined with Elijah's tone made the taunt anger that had been building in her chest for the entire day snap.
"My head feels like someone's driving a fucking spike through it, I'm pretty sure I'm one bad vision away from my eyes bleeding again, and to top it all off I haven't gotten any goddamn sleep for the past week. How's that for honesty, Elijah."
The words were scarcely out of Andy's mouth before she remembered who she was talking to.
Fuck. She shouldn't have said that. Snapping at an Original , of all beings. Someone who could snap her like a twig if he were so inclined.
Shit, what the hell had she been thinking?
Andy braced herself for something. Anything.
But there was only silence for a few long moments, until Elijah spoke calmly.
"I must insist that you stay here for the night."
There wasn't a trace of anger, or even annoyance in it. If anything, he sounded…concerned.
"...What?"
Andy's voice was small. But her fear started to lessen as the pounding in her head and eyes drifted to the forefront of her mind once more
"You're clearly not well, and I cannot, in good conscience, let you be alone in this condition. Stay here for the night."
There was something…something he wasn't saying. But Andy couldn't think right now - not through the pounding of her head, or the burning of her eyes.
She was so, so tired, and staying here, instead of stumbling back to her apartment, was far too tempting a notion.
Andy opened her eyes.
She wouldn't fight fate, just for one night.
"Okay."
He offered her a hand up. She took it, stifling the sound that rose to her lips when his touch lessened the burning in her eyes.
"You can sleep in the guestroom. This way, please."
She followed after him, not attempting to remove her hand from his.
The guest room was the size of half of her apartment. It was tastefully decorated in darker greys and blues, and most importantly of all, possessed a king sized bed that dominated most of the room.
Andy barely registered that Elijah had disappeared and reappeared with a bundle of clothes until he softly said her name.
Shit, really was tired, wasn't she?
Andy accepted them with a quiet 'thanks', and got to shedding her work uniform once Elijah left the room.
She changed into the offered clothing, not even caring that it was just a ludicrously expensive shirt of Elijah's.
For once, she did not question the fact that she was so easily accepting shelter and clothing from a man - vampire - that she barely knew. Or even that accepting this felt so right.
Instead, she climbed into the very comfortable bed and was out the second her head hit the pillow.