A.N.: They're married! Yay! All is right with the world!


Dangerous Beauty

42

The Charge of the Light Brigade


"Boldly she drove, and well, into the quarry of death…" – not quite Alfred, Lord Tennyson


If Giulia was nervous, it didn't show: Elijah had learned she was a master at handling external pressures.

The days slipped away from him; he had rarely been more acutely aware of time passing by – too quickly. Before he knew it, the Boarding House was full to capacity – Ric, Jenna and Jeremy; Elijah's friends, Kol, Ashlyn; Rosemary; Sheila Bennett arrived with her granddaughter after school. Mason Lockwood appeared with the duplicitous, doe-eyed Hayley Lockwood. Liz frowned around.

"Where's Caroline?"

"She hasn't called you?" Giulia frowned, pulling out her phone. She dialled Caroline. "Where are you?"

"The hospital," Caroline answered, somewhat frantically. "One of Klaus's witches put Carol in the hospital."

"Whatever you do, don't give her your blood," Giulia said sternly. "Get your ass to the Boarding House now – and Carol's."

"We're on our way – there was a bit of an issue," Caroline said. "Hey, ask why the hell Mason wasn't answering his phone; Tyler called him ages ago to get some help getting Carol out."

"Oh, I will," Giulia growled, her eyes lancing to Hayley, flirting with Mason as he poured her a drink. "Get over here now."

"We're on our way," Caroline assured her. "Giulia…Ear, Klaus's witches are dead. In the parking-lot."

"What happened?" Giulia frowned.

"They just appeared out of nowhere when we were getting Carol in the car, they were doing something with their hands, I think they were trying to mind-melt us, one of them had vervain."

"They must have been surprised you weren't affected," Giulia smirked at Elijah, who was listening. The bracelets she had had Sheila spell prevented witches' magic from harming her friends; they all had one. Especially those who were supernatural and in a greater position to help protect everyone else.

"Totally," Caroline said. "Before I snapped their necks."

"If they're any kind of witch at all, they'll have put protection spells on themselves," Giulia said, the same magic that had just protected her friends. "We'll be seeing more of them."

"We're on our way," Caroline said. "See you in a few minutes." Giulia hung up, and stalked through the relative crowd gathered in the great-room. She put a hand on Hayley's shoulder, jerking her around.

"So, you chose Mason, did you?"

"What're you talking about?" Hayley asked, with a broad, bitchy smile, a flicker of unease in her eyes.

"Klaus asked you to keep Mason distracted I so he could put Carol Lockwood in the hospital and have his witches kidnap her son as his backup-werewolf," Giulia said.

"I don't know what you're –"

"Please don't delude yourself that I can't see through right through you," Giulia said coldly, and Hayley closed her mouth, raising her chin slightly, her expression morphing.

"Carol's in the hospital?" Mason asked, fishing his phone out of his pocket. Giulia kept her eyes on Hayley as Mason listened to his twelve voicemail messages.

Quietly, Giulia said, "I will never understand how it's people least-deserving of it who have everyone running around after them." Her eyes slid to Elena. "You truly are a piece of work."

"He threatened to kill me if I –"

"I didn't realise there was anything you're actually living for," Giulia said coldly, and Hayley jerked her head back – like a wolf avoiding a trap – looking stunned.

"They're on their way," Mason said, hanging up the phone with Tyler; he glared at Hayley, who had the grace to flush, but she continued to glare daggers at Giulia, whose opinion of her had solidified irrevocably. Aimless, irresponsible, she was all for what she could get, and rather than get herself a job, settle down, manage her condition, build a life, she chased after men and let them shove it wherever they wanted so they'd look after her – and kept her options open, never settling on one guy; she had been chasing Tyler at the same time as she was going after Mason. The only difference was, Mason was a decent guy who wanted to see the best in her, give her the chance to make a better life for herself. But she had been involved in Caroline's capture, and Tyler didn't even have to know about Giulia's torture to put up blocks where Hayley was concerned. Mason let out a shaky sigh. "Carol has a broken arm, she's all banged up. Says some big guy came to the office early this morning, shoved her over the stair-rail. Secretary found her when she came in."

"Did she mention that two witches tried to jump Tyler and Caroline?" Giulia said softly. She gave Hayley a look she deserved, and met Carol, Tyler and Caroline at the door, helping get Carol settled on the daybed. She refused vampire-blood to heal, given everything.

It was purely precautionary, inviting everyone over to the Boarding House; until the sun rose tomorrow morning, Giulia didn't want to give Klaus any further opportunity to get to anyone. The bracelets she had given her friends were precautionary against the inevitable involvement of Klaus' witches to do his dirty-work. She had anticipated how he'd operate, who he'd use, and who Klaus would target after their little brush in the bakery. Were there two people she wouldn't protect more fiercely than Caroline and Tyler?

She had invited everyone to the Boarding House, and protected it. Protected them. Until sunrise, no-one could get in or out of the house. The adults sat sharing a drink, talking; Caroline was helping Matt with his homework, trying to boost his abysmal GPA with their final end-of-year exams; Bonnie and Elena were doing their nails, not doing homework, Stefan hovering, suffocatingly close. Giulia played dirty-Scrabble with Jeremy, Cara and Ashlyn, until the flirting got too much, the game forgotten, and Cara drifted off to tease Kol.

Dinner was lasagne, shrimp manicotti, a lot of salad and garlic-bread; a last supper, of sorts. All the people in their lives who truly meant the world to them, gathered in one place. And John and Hayley, both out of place and disliked, but protected, because Giulia was a decent person.

She and Elijah had gone over everything so often, they didn't need to discuss it anymore. So it didn't ruin everything; they had already made their goodbyes.

The trouble was in getting Elena away from Stefan. It was as if he felt his sheer presence alone could scare off impending doom.

Giulia went upstairs as the sun lowered in the sky, up to the attic, and retrieved the moonstone, tucked in the eaves between layers of old insulation. She had protected the secret of its location with magic, buried in her soul, so the truth could never be coerced or stolen from her. The moonstone could only be retrieved by Giulia at the moment of her choosing.

Elijah met her at the foot of the stairs, and cradled her face in his hands, panting softly as he tried to control emotion threatening to overwhelm him. She leaned in, giving him a gentle kiss. He groaned softly, fingers threading through her hair to hold her close, giving her a deep, luxurious kiss that made her rock on her toes, panting when he released her. She could see the struggle in his dark eyes, and she felt it, too; this would be the last time she would see him – for a very long time.

She wanted to treasure what they had, but didn't want to waste her life waiting for him.

However long it took her, when he finally met her again, she wanted to have something to…to tell him, about her life. She wanted him to have to rediscover who she was, who she had grown into, the adventures she had had.

She couldn't remain this Giulia, seventeen years old, in love with him. That was not the sum-total of who she was, she wouldn't allow that.

But, oh, she was going to miss him.

And she hadn't told him.

She took his hand and led him into her sound-proofed bedroom, closing the door behind her.

The turmoil in his lovely dark eyes spilled over; she had barely unbuttoned her jeans and he had them stripped down her thighs, gripping her hips and thrusting into her in one powerful, relentless shove that made her choke on a cry, sucking in a breath.

They both needed this. One last, desperate time, the real last-time. On her tiptoes, biting his collarbone through his shirt, arms wrapped around his shoulders as she panted and clung on, his hands splayed across her backside, nipping her ear, panting, thrusting unforgivingly – this was her last time with him – for years.

Whatever happened tonight, she'd take him with her, the echo of him still throbbing between her thighs, her body alive. She moaned, licked her lips, sighed and grinned lazily as Elijah stole a kiss, picking her up by her thighs, grunting with every powerful surge of his hips, twisting them so slightly the way he knew drove her insane, pushing her to the edge. She laughed, moaned, and came, clinging to him. Elijah groaned, and followed her, capturing her lips for a searing kiss that said everything they were both afraid of.

He withdrew from her with a pained expression, stealing another kiss from her as she tried to wiggle back into her jeans, her legs shaking, body wired, throbbing, yearning for him, her muscles clamping down on nothing as aftershocks riddled her body. Just the way he'd wanted – she would never forget how much her body ached for him.

But he had to let her go.

That was the last time.

He slipped downstairs first, and she followed at her leisure, the moonstone heavy in one pocket, tucking things into her inside-jacket pockets.

Strangely, it wasn't as difficult to separate Elena from Stefan as she had anticipated: Giulia came across her coming out of the bathroom.

"Hey, when –?"

Giulia held a finger to her lips, glancing pointedly to the gallery, overlooking the great-room. Elena nodded, understanding, and Giulia took her hand, leading her downstairs. There was no point disguising their footsteps by taking their shoes off; their heartbeats would betray them.

But they got downstairs to the foyer and out the front-door without anyone noticing to stop them. Now they couldn't; there was no crossing the threshold outside. Vampires were usually stopped from entering; Giulia had made sure that, until sunrise, everyone except Elijah was being held safe inside the Boarding House. They couldn't chase after them, do anything stupid – and most importantly, the spell prevented anyone from getting in, too. She didn't trust Klaus not to hunt down the supernatural under the influence of his confusing new instincts.

She pulled the door to quietly, tucked a little vial into the foliage of a planter by the door, licking her lips, and straightened up, taking Elena's hand to lead her down the driveway. It wasn't for comfort that she took Elena's hand; not her own, anyway, but Elena had that deer-in-headlights look and kept jumping at every tiny sound in the growing dark. Only the sound of night-insects, the occasional birdsong and the tread of their shoes against the brick driveway could be heard. Elena looked so skittish one hoot of an owl might send her fleeing back to the Boarding House – only to be rebuffed by strong magic. Giulia wanted to avoid a scene with Stefan – she imagined he would become desperate, Damon would threaten someone, and the witches within would be strong-armed into releasing them from the house.

Giulia climbed into the driver's seat of her beloved Beetle, smiling to herself as she caressed the worn old steering-wheel, taking everything in as the sun threatened a spectacular sunset, gilding everything in sight, hot and bright and delicious, a gentle breeze chasing away the closeness of the humid air. Elena looked a little startled as she climbed into the passenger seat, buckling her seatbelt.

"Where are we going?" Elena asked quietly, as Giulia sighed, enjoying the sound of her engine start into life. There was no sound like that, her old engine. She buckled herself in, rolled down her window, put the car in gear and drove off.

"Why are you here with me?" Elena asked, frowning. She stared at Giulia when she gave an enigmatic shrug. "Are you at least going to tell me where we're going?"

"The place where it began," Giulia said. She had lived Elijah's memories of his human-life. In the very place where Esther had protected Niklaus from warring instincts a thousand years ago, there now rested an abandoned quarry – the same quarry where, just under a hundred and fifty years ago, Stefan and Damon had transitioned into vampires.

She found the poetic irony delicious.

The sunset was fabulous, rich oranges, fuchsias, forget-me-not, lilac and pale-pink, deep purple, gilded pillowy-soft clouds billowing on the horizon, dark and magnificent and ominous. Giulia parked her car in the tree-line, not risking the suspension to drive down to the ramshackle little hut where Stefan had forced Damon to turn decades ago. They had an unforgettable view.

"Wow," Elena said softly, and Giulia nodded. She finally climbed out of the car, resting gently against the hood, watching the sun set. She just watched it, the colours, those billowing clouds looming ominously and glorious, gunmetal trimmed with gold, against the glorious sunset. Elena was caught up in the beauty of it, too, and left Giulia to enjoy it.

Not for long, though. As soon as the sun had hidden itself away behind the horizon, Giulia let out a sigh, and Elena turned to her, frowning.

"So why are you even here with me?" she asked. "How did you know this is where the sacrifice will be? Are you working for –?"

"Hello, my lovelies," a soft voice said, and Elena gasped. Giulia raised an eyebrow at Klaus, waiting with the appearance of patience nearby, hands clasped behind his back, a benign smile on his face. She heard Elena swallow, saw her cheekbones jut out as she sucked in a terrified breath, seeming to resist the urge to take a step backward. Giulia gave him a cool look as he smiled tauntingly at her. For one moment, he ignored Elena. "Shall we get down to it?"

"I've nothing better planned for the evening," Giulia said quietly, and Klaus smiled as he took the moonstone from her outstretched palm.

He reached forward, and snapped Giulia's neck.

Elena's scream rang out, strangled and shocked, echoing in the still darkness as Giulia's tall, curvy body – so full of strength, so fiery, so unconquerable – crumpled to the ground like a marionette's strings being cut.


A.N.: …You weren't expecting that.