Alive and Kicking

Elijah sighed. He gazed at the puddle of blood in the middle of the courtyard and let his eyes follow the trail of bloody paw prints that gradually turned into human footprints. They stopped at the body of a dead woman propped up against the fountain. She had a rather nasty gash in her neck that could have only been created by a wolf. Or in this case, an angry hybrid.

Elijah found more partial footprints as he walked up the stairs and followed them to the entrance of Hayley's bedroom. He paused in the threshold of the room and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. How was he going to deal with this? He had to be stern, but gentle. She was spiraling out of control, but the woman had just lost her child and humanity. He couldn't treat her like he'd treat anyone else in this situation either. He cared too much for her. He sighed once more and continued towards the bathroom where he found Hayley sitting in a bubble bath. Another body was propped up against the tub.

"Come to check up on me?" Hayley said sweetly as she turned towards him. She let a sarcastic smile appear on her face and Elijah inwardly fumed.

"You've had an eventful evening," he replied evenly as he surveyed the bloody mess around him.

"I was having a crappy day, so Klaus took me out to the Cauldron. Wouldn't you know, we ran into some witches," Hayley said nonchalantly.

"So, would you like me to remove your leftovers?" Elijah said sarcastically. Hayley, obviously not appreciating his tone, rolled her eyes and stood up stark naked save for the remaining bubbles on her body, and placed her hands on her hips.

Elijah's expression did not change, but he felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach. He didn't want this to be the first time he saw… well, her. But her anger and frustration had taken that moment from them. Still, she was beautiful, and he could not look away. Instead, he clenched his jaw and offered a towel to her. Hayley stepped out of the bath and took it from him before wrapping it around her body.

"Oh, don't judge, Elijah! What I did is no worse than anything Klaus has ever done," Hayley said.

"I would hope that you would hold yourself to a higher standard than Niklaus," Elijah said icily. His brother's name rolled off of his tongue bitterly knowing that this was partially his fault, not that he cared. Elijah pondered paying his brother a rather informative and violent visit later, but decided against it.

"I'm a hybrid now, and I have a werewolf temper to go with my new appetite. And, the witches who tried to kill my baby are worth nothing more than food. Excuse me," Hayley said as she tried to scoot past him, but he grabbed her arm and spun her to face him.

"So now you're going run alongside Niklaus, the man I distinctly remember wanting to execute you as soon as your child was born? Is that who you want to be now?" Elijah challenged her. Hayley's expression turned steely and she ripped Elijah's hand off of her arm.

"At least he's been around, Elijah. Where the hell have you been, huh?" Hayley yelled. Elijah took a sharp breath and pursed his lips.

"I was trying to give you space," he murmured. Hayley rolled her eyes and scoffed at him.

"Right, because that's what you do when someone you care about loses everything," Hayley said with tears beginning to form in her eyes. Elijah opened his mouth to say something, but could not find the words to respond.

"You were the one person I expected to be there for me, and you weren't, so sorry if I've moved on," Hayley spat at him before turning around and walking into her room to change.

Elijah stood, unable to move as the last six words repeated themselves in his head. Had he really lost her?