Haunter of Ruins
Elijah was standing looking out over the yard when he felt her presence behind him. A slight breeze brushed across his skin and he inhaled deeply. It smelled of strawberry shampoo and flowers, a scent which brought an immediate smile to his face and stop to his heart. After five years apart, the sweet smell of Hayley Marshall was intoxicating to him. He wished he could bottle it up and keep it forever, but the fact was that he no longer needed to. He finally had her in his life again and there was no way in hell he was ever going to let her go.
The sound of her footsteps on the wooden deck snapped him out of his thoughts and back to reality. She reached the spot beside him and let out a sigh that was inaudible to anyone but him. Supernatural hearing definitely had its perks when it came to the people he loved the most.
"Let me guess. You want the world to disappear," he said.
"Not the whole world," Hayley replied. "You can stay. Hope, too. Klaus can visit on the weekends, I guess."
A small smile flickered across her face at her own joke which in turn made Elijah smile. However, her happiness was as fleeting as her smile. Elijah recognized the turmoil in her eyes and frowned.
"I betrayed a lot of people over the last five years, Elijah. Killed people just to cover my tracks, to keep Hope safe. I was ruthless," she breathed. Now that everything was over, she was feeling guilty. Elijah knew the feeling all too well. The difference was that he had had a thousand years to find ways to cope with that guilt to the point where killing others was just a necessary evil. It was either his family or someone else, and he would not let it be the former.
"You were a Mikaelson. You did what you had to do," Elijah said, trying to reassure her.
"The truth is, I'd do it all again. I told myself a hundred times that it was all for Hope, but maybe I did it for selfish reasons, too," she said, looking into his eyes. It was as if his soul was being captured in her own eyes and truth be told, he allowed it to be.
"When I wasn't with my daughter, all I thought about was you."
Elijah took her hand in his own and gently rubbed the pad of his thumb over her soft, olive skin. He raised the flesh to his lips and kissed it lightly, hoping to reassure her that her feelings weren't selfish nor unreciprocated. As much as Elijah had wished to be reunited with his brother and his niece over those five years, there was only one true reason he wanted to escape that dream world and she was standing right in front of him.
"I should be happy right now, but there's one of my kind in a barn, miserable and scared, and she doesn't deserve to be there," Hayley said. Elijah knew full-well that no matter what her relationship was with him and his family, she would always hold the wolves close to her heart. They were her family before she was turned into a hybrid and despite what use Keelin was to the family, he couldn't live with himself if they kept her against her will.
"Release her," he said simply. Hayley's eyes widened slightly at this and her mouth opened.
"If Marcel finds you-"
"You can't do this forever. Your life is more than the salvation of the Mikaelson family. Now, trust me you'll lose yourself."
Hayley looked up at him momentarily before sliding her arms around his neck and pressing her face into his neck. Elijah ran a hand through her hair and relished the physical contact between them. Here, with Hayley in his arms, was where he always wanted to be.
Elijah finished lighting the candles on the small glass table and removed his jacket before throwing it on the couch across from him. It was an unusually warm night tonight which happened to be a blessing for his plans. He was going to treat Hayley to a proper date. Between the three years they spent dancing around each other and the five they spent apart, the pair had never had a true first date, which was something that Elijah deemed unacceptable.
Soft footsteps in the grass alerted Elijah of Hayley's presence and he pulled the bottle of champagne out of the ice bucket before he poured the rose-gold liquid into two crystal flutes.
"Was she asleep?" he asked without looking up.
"With her muddy shoes on," Hayley replied. Elijah suppressed a smile and looked up. Hayley was leaning against a pole that supported the light-covered gazebo above them. She had changed into an olive-green dress that brought out the flecks of green in her hazel eyes. It was simple, but suited her perfectly. He grinned at her and rose an eyebrow.
"Who else do I know that does that?" he asked sarcastically. Hayley rolled her eyes at him and he watched as her gaze lingered on the table.
"Expecting company?" she asked. Elijah put the bottle back into the ice bucket and strode towards her.
"Yeah. She should be here any second. I really think you're gonna like her," he said before kissing her soundly on the lips. The happiness he felt from having the freedom to kiss her with absolutely no reservations was unparalleled to anything besides maybe the love he felt for her. It made him think about what Rebekah had asked him earlier today. This. This was his answer. What he wanted more than anything else was to live out the rest of eternity with the woman he loved, watch his niece grow up, and be surrounded by his family, forever and always.
"You okay?" Hayley asked when they broke apart. Elijah furrowed his brow and looked up at the little white house they were currently inhabiting. An image of Hayley and himself sitting on the patio while Hope ran through the yard floated through his head. Yes, this would've been a perfect home for them if it had only been farther away from New Orleans.
"Rebekah asked me something, who I might be if Niklaus no longer needed me," Elijah said. "Did I have any desires of my own? And I thought about it. There was a time long ago, I do recall, I wanted more."
He was so much like Rebekah in his younger years. He searched and fought for love for years and years until he found it to be a futile wish. Niklaus was incapable of letting him be happy at that time and eventually, Elijah found himself running from the prospect of love.
"Somehow I have… I have I lost the feelings beneath blood and chaos," Elijah muttered. There once was a young man who dreamed of traveling the world, uncovering the secrets of life, and immersing himself in the love of another. However, that young man was long gone and replaced by a monster.
"Hey," Hayley interjected. "You can't let the bad things that you did in your past define you."
Elijah turned away from her piercing stare, but her hand on his cheek beckoned him to look at her again. He saw in her eyes that she truly believed this. She believed that everyone was capable of change, that being quite evident when it came to his brother. The problem was that although Elijah had believed in the salvation of his brother, he didn't quite believe it was possible for himself.
"I know you. You are good," Hayley said. Elijah shook his head slightly and an involuntary smile made his lips twitch.
"No, you are good," he replied. "I was wrong when I said that you were a Mikaelson. You're not a Mikaelson. You don't have a Mikaelson heart."
Her heartbeat was so strong and steady that Elijah placed his hand over it. It was as though he could feel the goodness in her heart. Her warm skin sent tingles through his hand as he slid it up to her face. An auburn lock of hair fell across her cheek and he tucked it behind her ear.
"There's just too much good in you," he said whilst tracing her bottom lip with his thumb. He felt her warm breath across the pad of his thumb and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.
"It's why I love you," he finally said. It was the first time he had said it. He knew that she knew he loved her, but for him to finally be able to say it aloud was an incredible feat. In his entire existence, he had killed both women he had ever loved. First, there was Tatia, killed in an uncontrollable rage of new vampire abilities and cravings. Second, there was Celeste, killed first by his brother and then finally by him. However, Hayley was different. He could not deny that he had loved the other two women deeply, but never in his life had he ever felt truly complete until he saw Hayley in that graveyard so many years ago.
"I love you, too."
Hayley pulled him toward her and captured his lips with her own. He melted into her, trying to put every ounce of love he had for her into the kiss. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, he pulled her hips towards his own. Elijah Mikaelson was so completely and utterly lost in this woman that the surrounding world no longer mattered. Right now, this moment, was all he could concentrate on. Her soft lips on his own, the taste of red wine on her tongue, her delicate fingers running through his hair… it was absolute perfection.
Elijah found them soon swaying slowly, no longer kissing, but simply holding each other. After all this time, they needed a moment like this. Hope was asleep, Rebekah and Kol were gone, Freya was probably off sulking somewhere, and Klaus was content with looking through Hope's artwork. There was no one after them and for once, they had a moment of peace. This was what Elijah had hoped to have so many centuries ago.
"I think the champagne is going flat," Hayley whispered. Elijah chuckled and leaned back so he could look at her. Her lips were swollen, her cheeks were flushed, and it was the best damn thing he had ever seen.
"Perhaps we should have some," he replied. "While we're waiting for my date to get here, of course."
Hayley rolled her eyes at him and tugged on his hand to lead him to the table he had set up. She picked up the two champagne flutes and handed one to him before gently clinking her glass with his and taking a sip. Of course, that sip led to a glass, a glass to another, and when they had finished the entire bottle, there was a fire in her eyes that Elijah recognized all too well.
"Why don't you go inside while I clean up?" Elijah suggested as he began to stand. A hand on his wrist, however, caused him to reconsider his actions.
"Why don't you leave this for later and come with me?" she said huskily. The tone of her voice and the look in her eyes caused Elijah to all but crumple in front of her. There was no way he could deny her request nor did he want to. So, he pulled her up into his arms and kissed her hard before vamping them to the front door. Hayley clasped his hand in hers and quietly entered the house. All was silent except for the crackling fire and the turning of pages they could hear from the other room where Klaus sat.
She led him quietly down the hallway, stepping over a few strewn stuffed animals in the process before reaching her bedroom. Feeling all personal restraints break away, Elijah pinned her up against the door and covered her mouth with his own. Hayley's hands threaded themselves through his hair and her tongue traced his bottom lip, begging for an entrance which he quickly obliged. Realizing they were still in the hall, Elijah fumbled blindly for the handle to the door and opened it, causing both of them to clumsily stumble inside.
As soon as the door was closed, Elijah pushed Hayley up against the door once more. He kissed her greedily and she reciprocated while her hands worked on the buttons of his vest. He really did have to rethink his clothing choices sometime. When he felt the fabric fall to the floor, he vamped them over to a desk where he pulled down the top of her dress. She was wearing the lacy black bra that she knew he adored and he grinned. Her lips were back on his in an instant though, and he soon heard the noise of buttons falling to the floor followed by the feeling of her hands on his bare chest.
Hayley vamped them over to the bed and pushed Elijah on to the mattress, allowing him to get a full view of her standing in matching black underwear. A low growl escaped from his lips and an instant later, Hayley was back on top of him. He gripped her thighs and pulled her down so that she was sitting completely on top of him before he flipped them over. Kneeling, he discarded his now button-less dress shirt to some corner of the room. Hayley met him in the middle of the bed and pulled his lips back to her. Her hands made quick work of his belt and Elijah awkwardly kicked off his shoes, having to pull away from her and bring his legs out from under him.
"You're moving a little slow, old man," Hayley teased. He narrowed his eyes at her before quickly pinning her to the bed and bringing them nose to nose. He let his hand travel down between her legs which elicited a sharp gasp from her. Knowing how badly she wanted him, Elijah kissed her gently and trailed his lips down her neck towards her ear.
"If you aren't careful, I promise, I will move slow," he whispered. Before he knew it, he was on his back again. Hayley kneeled between him and shimmied him out of both his pants and underwear in one swift move. With an evil glint in her eye, she straddled him once more, purposefully grinding her hips into his own. She unclasped her bra and threw it off to the side, leaving only a thin layer of fabric between them. Elijah made a move to grab her hips, but Hayley caught his arms and pinned them to the bed. Coming chest to chest with him, Hayley kissed him lightly before gently nipping at his bottom lip with her blunt teeth.
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
And so, Hayley Marshall made a liar out of Elijah Mikaelson for the next few hours.