Note: I've decided that this will start in Season 2, sometime before episode 13 where Caroline gets kidnapped by Jules.
Chapter Two: A Modest Proposal
Kiara opened her front door that morning to find Elijah waiting for her. He was wearing an expensive-looking suit, just like the night before, and an impassive look on his face. Expecting trouble, she froze in the doorway. They stared at one another for a moment as if daring the other to speak first.
Looking at her now with her large printed sweater and a neon green backpack slung over her shoulder, she looked almost normal. He could forgive himself for falling prey to her charms. She was certainly beautiful—in a way that reminded Elijah of sunlight breaking through tree leaves on a cool spring morning. Pure. Undeniable. Breathtaking. Her husky voice was pleasant to his ears and he found himself longing to hear it again. Thankfully, he was more prepared for the pull he felt around her this time. He had many questions to ask her and he couldn't allow himself to be enthralled by her again.
"Good morning, Miss. James," he grinned at her with his hands calmly placed in his pockets. "Did you sleep well? I myself was rather restless."
Kiara avoided his eyes, not knowing how to explain that her entering his dream last night was an accident. She doubted that he would believe her anyway.
He held her note up between two of his fingers, a white flag, and said, "Relax. I just want to talk."
"Fine, but if it's all the same to you, I think I'll stay here for now," she said. Her eyes trained on his face, searching for signs of deception.
He smirked at her and placed a hand on the doorway outlining the invisible barrier that separated them. "You know when I woke alone on this porch yesterday evening, I was quite angry. But then I found this note," he made a show of unfolding it in front of her and allowed his eyes to scan it again. As he had many times since he first discovered it. "And let's just say, you sparked my curiosity. After speaking with some friends of mine about our encounter, I discovered that they already have a theory as to what you might be. Would you like to hear it?"
Her eyes hardened and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Why should I care what your friends think?"
"Because, Miss. James, my friends are witches and if my friends have taken notice of you then I have no doubt that others have as well."
"What are you saying? That I'm in danger?"
"I'm afraid so. Yes."
She let out a sarcastic laugh. "So what then? You expect me to believe you want to protect me or something? You don't even know me."
"Perhaps not, but I believe we can be of help to one another."
Her expression dropped, but she didn't say anything.
Elijah watched her eyes shift to the ground and wondered where the woman from last night was. Suddenly, she looked like a lost young lady who was afraid of the angry vampire on her doorstep. Nothing like the sexy huntress who seduced him into submission the night before. He had no way of knowing which was the real her, or if it was possible that she was somehow both. After all, he was both a dignified gentleman and a merciless vampire.
"Miss. James, all I'm asking is for you to hear me out. Nothing more," he told her. "I assure you, you have nothing to fear from me." Elijah smiled a little before adding, "Besides, even if I was feeling particularly vengeful at the moment, I don't think I could bring myself to do you any harm. A lingering side effect, I'm sure."
The words seemed to calm her a little.
"Right," she nodded. "Sorry about that."
"That being said, I did lose my temper with you last night and, for that, I apologize," he said. "You startled me. The first to do so in a long time."
Kiara eyed him for a moment and he did his best to look sincere. To his surprise, she stepped out of her house, locked the door behind her, and said, "I guess that's understandable. I really am sorry… I swear I usually have better control than that. You just caught me at a bad time."
"So you said," he folded the note and put it back in his pocket. "In exquisite detail. I suppose it would make me a hypocrite if I were to hold it against you. After all, I understand the struggle of living with a hunger one can't control better than anyone. Consider yourself forgiven."
"How big of you," Kiara muttered and stepped past him. She headed down her porch stairs to where her car was parked in front of the house.
"Yes," he said, deciding to ignore the sassy tone in her voice. "I would, however, like to ask you for a favor in return."
She stopped and sighed dramatically. "What kind of favor?"
"Nothing inappropriate, I can assure you. As I said, I believe we can be of use to one another. But first, I would like to learn more about you. What you're capable of, that sort of thing," he said. "As it is, my friends don't have much information about… your kind, so I would like for you to meet them."
"Holly says I should avoid witches," Kiara told him, looking him over. "And vampires, for that matter."
"Wise advice," Elijah admitted and stepped toward her. "So tell me, why did you allow me to walk you home last night if you knew what I was? Was it simply hunger clouding your judgment or something else?"
It was a good question. No doubt one she had been asking herself since they met. She opened her mouth as if she might finally have the answer, only to shut it and shrug her shoulder instead. Strangely the lack of response seemed to entertain him.
"Interesting…" he said with a small smirk creeping onto his face despite his best efforts.
Color flooded to her cheeks as his eyes danced over her face.
"Alright, if I promise to think about meeting your witch friends, will you let me go to school? I'm kinda running late as it is," she said, opening her car door.
"Very well. Expect to hear from me soon."
"Thank you. Oh! And Elijah?"
"Yes?" he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Please don't tell anyone else about me. I'd hate to have to move again," she told him and he nodded his head in agreement.
School went relatively normal, but Kiara couldn't help feeling a little paranoid after Elijah suggested that other people in town might know about her. All this time she thought no one had even noticed her. At least that's what she'd hoped. She tried so hard to be invisible, to just stay away from the chaos unraveling around her. But maybe she was just kidding herself. Maybe she was always going to get dragged in at some point or another.
When she passed by the vampire magnet herself, Elena Gilbert, the girl didn't even so much as wave at her. The lack of acknowledgment eased her anxiety a little. Maybe Elijah was just trying to scare her or something. No one was showing any special interest in her or acting any differently than usual. Surely someone would have said something to her by now if they suspected something was off about her. Damon Salvatore didn't exactly seem like the bashful type and he hadn't talked to her since that single encounter she had with him months ago. It probably helped that she avoided public gatherings whenever necessary. It made confronting her more challenging at the very least. The only place she couldn't really avoid them was school.
"Hey, Kiara," Mr. Saltzman stopped her as she passed his desk after class. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure." She paused, watching the other students disappear into the crowded hallway, and said, "Is everything okay?"
He walked towards her and leaned back against his desk with his arms crossed. A small smile broke out on his face. "I was just about to ask you that same question. You seemed a little out of it today. It's not like you to be so distracted."
It was moments like this that reminded Kiara why Mr. Saltzman was her favorite teacher. He was a genuine person who really seemed to care for his students. The fact that he was young and handsome didn't hurt either. She couldn't understand how he got mixed up with Elena and the vampires in town, but she'd seen him whispering with them. She worried he would end up dead because of it. He deserved better than to end up just some other victim of the supernatural in this town.
"Oh, um, I guess I have a lot on my mind." She tugged her sweater sleeves down anxiously.
"Anything I can help with?"
"I wish," she let out a little chuckle. "But no. It's more of a personal matter."
"Alright, well let me know if there's anything I can do. I'd hate for you to fall behind."
"Thanks for worrying about me Mr. S. I really appreciate it. I promise I'll pay more attention in class from now on. Don't want you getting any grey hairs on my account."
He only laughed as she made her way out the door.
As the day progressed, Kiara kept catching the new guy Luka staring in her direction. At first, she told herself she was just being paranoid. But she quickly realized that she wasn't. Which was concerning since he was obviously a witch. His aura was just like Sheila and Bonnie Bennett's was, not to mention he'd been spending a lot of time around the Bennett girl. The fact that he showed up around the same time as Elijah made it pretty obvious that he was one of Elijah's supposed "friends".
Kiara would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't considering going through with the meeting. Being able to talk to someone other than Holly about what she was was tempting in itself. She'd spent so long isolating herself from others, she was aching for an authentic connection with someone. Not to mention, they might be able to answer some of the most burning questions she has about herself. The two biggest ones being, was she the only one with this affliction and could she be fixed? Up until this point, she had no one to ask such questions to. For a while, she and Holly tried to research but came up with nothing definitive. She knew Holly did what she could to help her and Kiara was grateful for it, but nothing could replace talking to someone who truly understood you. And Kiara worried that she would never have that. Perhaps that was the reason she walked with Elijah the night before. She wanted to be seen.
"Hey." Luka was suddenly standing in front of her. "I don't think we've met. I'm Luka."
"Kiara," she said, walking around him to head to the parking lot.
The school day was over and she wasn't part of an extracurricular activity so she had no reason to stay there any longer. If he was Elijah's friend, she would talk to him later. Where no one would see or hear them. If not, she wasn't interested in making friends. But Luka had other ideas.
He caught her by the wrist. "Come on, don't be like that. I just thought we should talk, you know since you met Elijah last night."
She glared at him and yanked her arm free. "You know, I was considering meeting with you and Elijah, but now I'm not so sure that's a good idea."
Luka put his hands up in the air. "Woah now, I didn't mean anything by it."
"I don't know why you're here or what you want from me, but when you and Elijah are gone, I would still like to live here. In peace. Understand?"
"Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, especially since no one really knows what you're capable of." He squinted his eyes at her. "Do you even know what you're capable of?"
Her hands balled into fists at her sides. She couldn't believe what he was saying out in the open. He may not have cared if people heard them, but she did. This was her town.
"Hey Kiara, everything okay?" Tyler walked up to them, his eyes on the witch. His whole aura suddenly looked different to her, but she couldn't figure out why. It was like he had gone through some kind of transformation, only he didn't seem like a vampire.
She looked down, trying to hide her confusion. "Yeah, fine. Luka was just introducing himself."
"Seriously?" Tyler looked at him like he was crazy. "You've been in town for what? Like two weeks. How have you not met Kiara yet?"
"No big deal, Tyler. It's not like I'm a social butterfly or anything."
Tyler scoffed. "Yeah, sure. You're a total leper."
Kiara shrugged trying to hide the redness creeping up into her cheeks. She always felt uneasy around the boy and it only got worse after she fed from him that day in sophomore year. "Anyway, I've got to go. Family stuff. You know how it is."
"Yeah…" Tyler nodded, but he looked almost disappointed. "See you later, Kiara."
Later that night, there was a knock at her door and she found Elijah standing on her front porch for the second time that day. Of course, Holly was stuck working late so she was alone with the vampire again. Not that she wanted them to meet face to face. A part of her still worried about what this vampire might do to get what he wanted.
"Good evening, Miss. James. I was hoping we could continue our conversation from this morning. May I come in?"
She shook her head and stepped out onto the porch with him. "Sorry, I don't have many people that I care for and I won't risk you hurting them."
"Do you think that poorly of me?"
"It's nothing personal, Elijah," she said, sitting down on the porch swing.
"I see," Elijah sat down next to her. "You don't trust anyone, is that it?"
"You could say that."
"I'm truly sorry to hear that."
She frowned in confusion. "Why?"
"Because it means someone betrayed your trust in such a way that you now feel you can't trust again. You're too young to experience such pain."
Kiara hugged her knees up to her chest. "Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first—"
"—and the lesson afterward," Elijah finished. "Oscar Wilde."
Kiara nodded and said, "I learned my lesson. Nothing tragic about that, it's just life."
"Can I ask what happened?"
She looked at him, leaning her cheek on her knee. "I don't really like to talk about it," she said.
"Understandable, but surely you talk with someone about your troubles," Elijah frowned.
"You don't need to worry about that," she said. When he didn't respond right away, she sighed. "Look, I know you might think you care about me right now, but what you're feeling isn't real. It's like you said this morning, it's a side effect of my feeding. That's all. I didn't think I'd taken enough to affect you, but maybe as a vampire, you're more sensitive to me somehow. It should fade away eventually."
Elijah smiled at her. "Do you really think so lowly of yourself? That I'd need to be under some magical influence to care about your wellbeing?"
She stared at him for a moment before raising her hand and running her fingertips along the side of his face. A warm tickly feeling was left in its wake. He swallowed trying to keep calm, but his eyelids fluttered at the pleasurable sensation and his breathing deepened.
"Well…" she continued touching him, clearly aware of how it was effecting the vampire. "we aren't friends, hardly acquaintances really. You don't know anything about me and I know how I can affect people… I can't even imagine what I must do to you," she said, dropping her hand. Freeing him of the feeling and allowing him to think clearly again. "It's the only thing that makes sense, but it's not your fault. It's mine. I shouldn't have kissed you."
Elijah put a hand over his chest. "You wound me, Miss. James."
"I," she looked away from him. "You know what I mean."
And he did. But he also knew that the distant look in her eyes made him feel an unreasonable sadness. Like he needed to show her that she mattered. Not just because of her beauty or her sensual charms, but because of her mind and her heart. It didn't matter if this was the result of her magic or not, he couldn't help how he felt.
"I'd like to help you, Miss. James. The why doesn't quite matter to me at the moment. I think my friends might be able to give you some answers, perhaps even give you some advice on how to help control your hunger, if you're interested. You don't even need to help me if you don't want to."
"Yeah? Tell me that in the morning," she joked, making him grin and look up at the sky in disbelief.
"Perhaps I will," he said.
"Perhaps."
Elijah looked at her, wishing he had the right words to say. But it seemed she wouldn't believe anything he told her at the moment anyway.
"Can I ask… what you think I can help you with?" Kiara dropped her feet back down to the ground. "You seem like the kind of guy who doesn't need help with anything."
"Normally you'd be right, but this is a special circumstance. It concerns my family. And I don't take chances when it comes to my siblings."
He watched Kiara bite her lip again as she considered this. His mind wandered to how it felt to have her mouth against his. It seemed impossible that she could have such a stronghold on him after only one kiss. Even more impossible, the thought of the feelings he felt for her now simply fading away.
Finally, she said, "Lucky them."
He smiled. Amazed by how often he found himself doing so around the girl. "I will tell you everything you need to know once we learn more about you. There's no need for you to get involved if you can't help me."
That night, Kiara discussed Elijah's proposal with Holly over dinner. They both wanted to learn something, anything more about what she was. The truth was after Kiara's awakening last year, she scared Holly. She scared herself. The possibility of having some answers to the questions that have been eating away at her all this time was too good to pass up.
Accepting Elijah's help seemed to be their only option.
Before she went to bed, Kiara called the number Elijah gave her. He said she could call anytime. She only hoped he meant it.
"Miss. James, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Sorry to call so late. I, um, I wanted to let you know that I want to meet with your witch friends. As long as you promise that the favor you ask of me won't require me to hurt anyone."
"You have my word, Miss. James."
They arranged to meet at the grill in the morning, then go see the witches together. When they hung up, Kiara did everything she could to distract herself, afraid if she fell asleep with him on her mind, she'd find herself in his dream again.
To the Reviewers:
Sam: I don't know... I haven't decided if she should be with both Klaus and Elijah just yet. I know she will care for both of them. I just don't usually like it when a person strings two people along, you know? My characters seem to take on a life of their own and we may find that Kiara fits better with one brother over the other. But I'd love to hear what you think. As the chapters come out, let me know if you like her with one over the other or not. I will definitely take it into consideration when writing future chapters.
omgDaddy: Thank you! I can't wait for her to meet Klaus either! Please continue to let me know how I'm doing, I really appreciate the feedback.
I hope this is entertaining so far. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading! :)
