"You look delectable." Elena can't help but jump, as the words are all but purred in her ear. She turns around, glaring up at Klaus.
"Very funny," she says, resisting the urge to hunch her shoulders to protect her bare neck. Elena vividly recalls the way it felt, his arms holding her tight, his fangs in her neck – draining her, ikilling/i her.
Klaus chuckles, looking amused by her pique. "You've got a little…" he murmurs, reaching towards her neck. Elena tenses as his thumb swipes against her skin, right where his fangs tore into her. "There," he says, sounding satisfied.
Elena imagines Klaus is staring at the pinprick scars his fangs left behind. She can't see them without a mirror, but she ifeels/i them – a sense memory she can't shake.
"Excuse me," Elena says, turning to walk away. She needs to speak with Esther, and then she needs to leave. The less time she spends with or near Klaus, the better.
"What's the rush, love?" Klaus asks, flashing around so he's in front of her again. He holds out his hand. "Surely, you can spare me a dance?"
Elena wants to spare him a slap to the face, but it would be unproductive. She's more likely to hurt her hand than his face. She tries to be subtle as she glances around the ballroom, but no rescue seems forthcoming.
"One dance," Elena tells him, her tone firm. She doesn't take his hand as she walks with him to the dance floor.
But then the music starts, and she can't avoid the contact any longer – his hand on her waist, her hand on his shoulder, her other hand in his. His touch blisters where they touch - through her dress, through her glove.
"You do look ravishing tonight, Elena," Klaus tells her, a peculiar tone in his voice that she hasn't heard before, and can't quite place. She wonders if he's mocking her. Elena looks past his ear, avoiding eye contact, and doesn't respond.
She refuses to play his game – whatever it is. Maybe if she's boring enough, he'll leave her alone. (At least until he needs to collect more of her blood for his hybrid army.)
"You're a splendid dancer," Klaus tells her. Elena glares up at him before she can think better of it, their gazes locking. He looks amused. "But then, you do have an amazing partner."
He continues to talk, seemingly unfazed by her lack of response, until the song comes to a close. Before Elena can pull away, Klaus brings her hand to his mouth, his eyes twinkling at her as he presses a kiss to the back of her hand.
His lips burn like a brand through her glove.
"Always a pleasure dancing with you," Klaus tells her, after Elena all but rips her hand away.
"We've never danced together before," Elena reminds him, wondering if he is confusing her with Katherine, with Tatia. (Do they all blur together for him?)
"We've been dancing since the night we met, Elena," Klaus replies, something unfathomable in his gaze as he stares at her. Elena looks away, hating the way he always confuses and unsettles her.
"Elena," another voice calls, and then Elijah is there, slipping between her and Klaus like a shield. Elena relaxes, just a bit, and lets him pull her away from Klaus and into the next dance. "It is dangerous to be the object of my brother's fascination," Elijah murmurs, like a warning.
"Take it up with your brother," Elena responds, not in the mood for chiding when she's done nothing wrong. "I have nothing to do with it."
Elijah's dark eyes search her face. She isn't sure what he's looking for, but he seems to find it. "I'll speak with Niklaus," he promises her.
Elena catches Klaus's eyes over Elijah's shoulder, filled with an emotion she can't – idoesn't want to/i - place. She isn't sure that Elijah "speaking with" Klaus is going to help.
Later, when Finn Mikaelson introduces himself and brings Elena upstairs to meet his mother, when Esther explains her plan and asks for Elena's help, Elena can't escape the memory of Klaus's eyes – fascinated, passionate, icovetous/i - as she spills her blood into the chalice.
This will be the last step in their dance.
