A new chapter, it's getting interesting.

And don't get used to the quick updates, I'm on vacation right now and have so more time to write 'lol

Thank you to Senema for her quick beta.

Chapter 4

It was just after one a.m. when Linda looked at her watch. "Excuse me, but I have a session with a client in the morning. It would make a bad impression if I fall asleep during it."

"Allow me to accompany you home", Elijah offered her at once.

Linda smiled at him. "That is sweet but unnecessary, I will take a taxi."

"Then allow me to at least escort you to the taxi stand to make sure that you get safely into a taxi." Elijah returned her smile.

Linda hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. The taxi stand was right outside the club and Lucifer had made sure that it was well lit.

Elijah got up. "Lucifer, it was a very pleasant evening, you have my number." He nodded to the others. "Ladies, gentleman, it was nice meeting you."

He offered his arm to Linda again, who hooked in without hesitation. Together they went to the cloakroom, where Linda and Elijah were given their respective coats. Elijah as the perfect gentleman helped Linda into her coat before putting on his own, then they left the club together.

When Linda looked over to the taxi stand, she saw that there was no taxi waiting. "It looks like I'll have to wait a few minutes", she said with a sigh.

"Looks like it but I will wait with you", Elijah agreed. "I was a little surprised that you were so willing to go with me, even though you now know what I am."

Linda swallowed and felt her heart beat faster.

"There is no need to be afraid", Elijah said calmly. "I have no intention of harming you."

"How do you know that I know?" Linda asked quietly.

"The way, you looked at me after you and Maze came back. From your quickened heart beat in my vicinity and a few other signs, it was clear that you knew." Elijah laughed softly. "I know the signs; I've seen them often enough. And then of course there was Maze's little joke with decades and centuries to which your heart beat also reacted."

"Maze said, you are probably pretty old", Linda said shyly.

"She is right about that." Elijah shrugged. "Still, I haven't figured out what kind of supernatural being she or Lucifer is but they are definitely not human."

"Maze told me that vampires can manipulate and control people", Linda said uncertainly.

"Yes, we can. We call it compulsion", Elijah replied.

"So you could make me tell you all about Maze and Lucifer, if you wanted to?" Linda had to admit that she was feeling very anxious and uncomfortable right now.

"If I wanted to, yes!" Elijah grinned slightly. "But where would be the fun in that? I'm on vacation and plan to enjoy myself. One problem with living so long is the slow passage of time and the occasional boredom that goes with it. Maze and Lucifer are an interesting puzzle that I want to solve on my own."

Linda laughed softly. "Good luck with that!" She just hoped, she would be there when that happened to see Elijah's reaction.

A couple of taxis had come back and Elijah accompanied Linda to the taxi stand, held the door open for her and closed it again as soon as she was in the back seat. Then he looked after her until the taxi was out of sight. She was an interesting person and he liked her.

Elijah took a deep breath and took a few minutes to enjoy being alone. The hours at the club, as pleasant as they were, had also been exhausting because he'd to pretend to be human.

His hotel was close by, so Elijah decided to go for a walk. As he enjoyed the night, he thought about Antoinette and wondered a little, how she was doing. As he passed the alley next to LUX, he heard a scramble, the pained moan of a man and then Elijah smelled blood.

Curious, Elijah followed the noises and the smell of the blood. In the dark alley he saw three men fighting, two against one and the single man was clearly in dire straits.

"Stop it", called Elijah loudly. Immediately the two men let go of the man, who slumped to the ground, and then they ran away.

Elijah hurried to the man, who was lying prone on the floor and turned him gently around. He swore softly, when he saw the knife stuck in the man's stomach. The heartbeat was barely there and Elijah had to make a decision.

He pulled out the knife, the blood splattered on his suit, and then opened his wrist with his fingernail to give the man his blood. When Elijah pressed his wrist to the mouth of the man, to force him to swallow, the heartbeat stopped and Elijah knew he had been too late, the man was dead.

Only now did he have the opportunity to take a closer look at the man's face and to his dismay he discovered that he knew him, it was the drunk idiot.

"Stop, don't move, police!" came a loud male voice.

Elijah grimaced, and when the light of a flashlight shone on him, he stiffened. That was not good! This scenario was more than unfavourable for him, with bloodied clothes and his fingerprints on the knife.

He had no choice but to take the knife with him and erase the two police officers' memories of him. But before he could put his plans into action, the light of a second flashlight fell on him from the other end of the alley.

"What's going on here?"

This time it was a female voice and Elijah knew its owner. It was Chloe's and Elijah knew that he was now in deep trouble. She was not alone either and the humans were too far apart for there to be no gunshots.

It was unavoidable, he had to allow the humans to arrest him. Elijah scowled. Was it too much to ask, to have a vacation from his family just once without getting into trouble? What had he done to deserve that? Scratch that, he knew what he had done.

xxxxx

It was a pleasant evening for Chloe. The party was very tasteful this time and the music was also very good. Lucifer was more preoccupied with impressing and becoming friends with Elijah than with bothering her.

Choe wasn't sure what to think of Elijah. On the one hand, his charm reminded her a lot of Lucifer's, but on the other hand he was a far more serious and reserved man than Lucifer. But she had to admit that he could really play the piano and sing very well.

After Linda and Elijah said goodbye, Maze followed them shortly afterwards and never came back.

"I think I'll go home too", said Chloe. She was tired, the case had been exhausting and she had to get up early tomorrow morning.

"I'm staying here", Ella said. "I'm having too much fun and tomorrow I have the day off."

"I'll come with you, Chloe", said Dan. "Could you drive me home?"

Chloe nodded and they left the club together. She had parked her car on the other side of the alley next to the LUX. Chloe was about to unlock her car when they heard loud voices and saw the light of a flashlight.

She and Dan exchanged looks before they both drew their guns to see what was going on. Chloe also had her flashlight ready.

As soon as they were close enough, the two police officers saw two colleagues of theirs, as well as a figure lying on the floor and another kneeling next to this figure.

"What's going on here?" Chloe asked, pointing her flashlight at the kneeling man. She was honestly shocked when she recognized Elijah.

"Sir, put your hands behind your head", said the older policeman.

"Sam, what's going on here?" Chloe asked, recognizing him by his voice.

"We got a report about a fight in an alley. Since we were already in the vicinity, we were able to react immediately. When we got here, this man was kneeling next to his victim. There is also a bloody knife there, detectives", reported the patrol officer.

Chloe went closer and saw at a glance that any help for the man lying on the floor was too late. The bloody belly and the bloody knife left little ambiguity as to the cause of his death.

She then looked at Elijah, who was still half kneeling beside the body and, if at all, looked more annoyed than frightened. A lot of blood was smeared on his hands and suit.

"Elijah Mikaelson, you are hereby under arrest on suspicion of murder", said Chloe in a firm voice. "Sam, read him his rights!"

Sam's colleague came up behind Elijah. "Sir, put your hands behind your head, now!"

Chloe watched Elijah obey silently, his face was closed off and the only reaction he showed when the handcuffs closed around his wrists, was that his eyes went dark. For a moment she thought she could see black lines around his eyes too, but when she looked closer, the area around his eyes was perfectly normal.

"Request a patrol car and take him to the precinct! I'll take over the case. Get the knife and his clothes to the forensics department", Chloe gave further orders.

"The patrol car is already on its way", replied the older policeman. "Do you know the culprit?"

"Suspected perpetrator please", said Elijah with a smile.

The younger policeman gave him a rough push. "Shut your mouth!"

Elijah stumbled slightly, but Chloe had the impression that he was doing this to counterbalance the push more than that he had lost his balance. His body control was impressive, especially considering how much alcohol she had seen Elijah drink. He straightened up quickly and the look with which he eyed the policeman was not particularly friendly.

"But he's right with his objection", said Chloe calmly. She stepped closer to the victim. "He was also at LUX."

She remembered the man because he came to the table drunk and had hit on Linda in a rather primitive way. When he tried to grab her, Elijah had intervened and put himself between the man and Linda but without getting aggressive. Club security then came and removed the man from the club.

"The two men had a clash at the club because the dead man molested a woman, who was with Mr. Mikaelson." Chloe frowned. "However, the timing is wrong. The dead man left the club an hour ago and Mr. Mikaelson left the club perhaps fifteen minutes ago. Where is Linda?" she asked Elijah worried and looked around searching.

"She drove away in a taxi, she isn't involved in this", Elijah answered immediately. "My hotel is not far from here and I wanted to go there on foot. As I passed the alley, I heard the noise of fighting and a man moaning. I followed the noise and saw two men beating the other man. I called loudly and the two men ran away.

The man fell to the floor, I went over to him and turned him around. There was a knife stuck in his stomach. He reared up and grabbed me, so I got his blood on my suit. I tried to keep the knife in his stomach, to keep the bleeding under control, but he struggled against me too much and I could no longer hold the knife in his body." Elijah looked at Chloe. "You will find my fingerprints on the knife."

Chloe accepted the rather monotonous and indifferent explanation for the moment. She did not have the impression that Elijah was lying, but she had never seen an arrested person make his statement so cool and dispassionately.

"Well, we'll check your testimony, of course, but for now you're our only murder suspect", she said business-like.

Elijah tilted his head and grinned crookedly. "It looks like our evening together isn't over yet."

And now Elijah reminded her completely of Lucifer, when he uttered such brazen and inappropriate sentences.

Dan sighed. "I'll get Ella out of the club. Looks like she can forget her day off. Should I notify Lucifer about this?"

Chloe hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "No, let's leave him out of it for now. He and Elijah quickly became friends, I can do without Lucifer interfering in the case because he wants to help him." She sighed. "You know how he gets."

"Unfortunately, yes, I remember", Dan replied blankly, rolling his eyes. "I'll stay here and you can go to the precinct."

"Thank you." Chloe remembered something else. "And please call Linda too. Ask her what time she last saw Elijah."

"We can compare her answer with the time the report came in", Dan realized immediately what Chloe was getting at. "If they were still together or the time period between their parting and the report is too short, he has an alibi."

The two detectives watched as the two police officers led Elijah to the police car that had arrived in the meantime and put him into the backseat of the car.

"Do you believe him?" Dan asked quietly.

"I don't know", Chloe replied, just as quietly. "My impression of him is that he is not one of those people who can't control their temper, but he did drink a lot." She shrugged. "Two drunks who have already quarrelled and then meet again unplanned..."

"We both know what can happen then", Dan agreed. "However, a drunk is also not so calm and clear when he makes his statement."

"Which either means that he is telling the truth or that Elijah deliberately murdered the man." Chloe sighed again. "We'll see what Ella finds out."

The two detectives parted ways to carry out their agreed tasks.