Chapter Three: You Don't Know Me

All she was aware of was his touch.

His skin on her skin seemed to send electricity up her arm. She was only slightly coherent of being led through the maze of tables, to the space in front of the piano and the singer who had moved on to another slow, jazzy sounding song, that only added to the surreal moment.

She was pulled gently into his arms, her body against his, his face close—so close!— to hers. Her vampire senses seemed in overdrive. The sensation of his breath softly blowing her hair, of his heartbeat, of his hand in her hand, and his arm around her waist. It was almost too much. She closed her eyes and breathed in his sent. God how she'd missed even the smell of him. She was dreaming. This wasn't real.

Elijah

"Yes?" He spoke softly in her ear. Her eyes opened and she realized she's spoken his name out loud...

Quickly she attempted to cover. "How long have you been here? You don't sound French."

"No, I'm not. But I enjoy it here. The food, the wine, the… joie de vie, if you will…"

The joy of life. Did he now feel joy in life, she wondered? She had hoped so.

"And so you live here…all the time?" She asked.

"I spent some time in Paris. It is wondrous—have you been?"

"No…" she'd never really been anywhere. Unlike him, she wasn't so old, and most of her young life she'd spent poor and running. Hiding, searching. Once upon a time, she'd imagined seeing it all with him. "No, this is my first time out of America, actually."

Elijah pulled back to look at her for a moment, his brows raised in curiosity. She was once again struck by the reality of him so near, that she was looking into his eyes, that he was close enough to kiss… She ducked her face back into his shoulder. Cashmere sweater. He's not wearing a suit, she realized.

"And you found yourself here, in this provincial village?" he gently teased.

"Well… I once heard it was beautiful here."

He was quiet for a moment, swaying with her to the music.

"It is. Paris is full of wonderful things. But…something drew me here a few years ago. And here I have stayed."

Hayley brushed her cheek against the solidness of his shoulder. "Forever?"

He sighed out a chuckle. "Well, forever is a very long time, isn't it?"

"Yes. It is." The last five years had felt like forever, to her. And she didn't think she believed in always, or forever anymore.

"…But then, for people like you and I…" He spoke softly into her hair. "Time has little meaning."

Hayley pulled back and looked at him. Of course he knew she was a vampire. They always knew their kind. But then, she hadn't intended to be here in his arms so close to him, to even let him see her…exactly.

Didn't you?

She tucked her lips between her teeth, as was her nervous habit, while she tried to think if what she should say. He smiled crookedly at her. "Oh, come now. You could hardly think I wouldn't notice. Until a moment ago, I have been the only one here."

She nodded understanding. "Of course."

"And, well… You are stunning." She told her matter of factly. "I could hardly be expected to keep my distance. The curiosity would have driven me to distraction."

He grinned at her and pulled her back in, again swaying to the piano. "So tell me, Leigh… What brings you to this place? Was it a craving for a French country meal?" He asked. "They are quite delicious. Sweet, yet bold, with just a hint of thyme," he said in a low, humming voice, as if he were describing the regions wine and not its people. Hayley couldn't help but laugh a little under her breath. He always had such a dry sense of humor.

"I just needed to get away…" He let her non-answer sit, waiting. When she didn't elaborate, he nodded once.

"I see. Well, you don't need to tell me all your secrets in one night…"Hayley could hear the humor in his voice, but somehow his inference to future nights together shook her. There would be no future nights.

She rubbed her cheek on his shoulder thoughtfully. She wanted to melt into him. Soak up the feeling of being in his arms again…because it wouldn't last.

Elijah, even after all this time…

I know. For me, too.

…They danced in silence until the song ended. He let her go from his embrace, but kept hold of her hand. "I noticed you were enjoying the bread before. Are you hungry, would you care to dine with me?"

Hayley felt herself steady once out of his arms for a moment. She smiled at him in relief, "Yes, I think I do need to eat, actually."

"Very well," He placed her hand on his arm, formally, as if they were at a Mystic Falls cotillion, and he was her handsome escort. He led her back toward the bar, and signaled to David, saying something in French. Then he surprise her by leading her to a door further back, which he opened and gestured for her to enter before him. She raised her brows at him, in question.

"I didn't mention I owned this establishment, did I?" He said, gesturing again "Please."

"No, you didn't" she answered, walking into a well-appointed back room. It looked very much like the family room at the compound in New Orleans, she realized. Comfortable antique furniture, dark woods, a table by the window, and a hearth where only embers glowed…and over it hung a painting.

By an artist she knew.

Hayley turned to Elijah, her large hazel eyes searching his calm face. How did he have one of Klaus's pieces?

"This is nice," she motioned to the painting. "A little…dark, maybe…" She looked at the white oak tree, glowing against a night sky lit up by what seemed to be a distant fire.

"Yes, I suppose it is." He came to stand beside her. "I picked it up in Paris, not long ago. A sidewalk vender, if you can believe it. I'm not sure why it spoke to me… it just did."

"A sidewalk artist. Did you speak to him about it? The artist?" She asked as causally as she could. She couldn't imagine Klaus selling his work on the street.

"No, actually. I don't even know the artist name." He turned to smile at her, "Imagine, I could own a Picasso, and not even know it."

"You could."

"Although," he leaned in as if sharing a secret, his voice lowered. "I think I actually would know a Picasso. I think I may have known him, if truth be told."

Hayley just looked at him. "You think?"

He tapped his head, and shook it, when a gentle knock sounded at the door. "I…have holes, as it were. Entre!" he called.

He had holes.

Hayley watched as David set their food down at the table, and Elijah pulled out a chair for her. She sat, and he sat across from her…then easily took David's wrist, poked it with something silver and filled her glass, and then his own, with blood while the bartender watched without reaction.

"Merci, David," Elijah said, dismissing him politely. Hayley watched him leave, before picking up her glass, and looking at him over the rim... He watched her, waiting. She sipped the warm liquid.

"Well. I don't taste the thyme…maybe brie."

Elijah grinned at her joke. She felt her heart catch when he did it. She wanted to reach across the table and stroke him. "Yes, I would not doubt it. The French do enjoy their pungent cheese." He agreed good-naturedly.

"So you live here, own this club, and dine on your employees?" Causing him to chuckle.

"It is a tiny village, after all. One must be careful. My arrangement…simplifies things." He offered, placing a serving of coco vin on the plate before her.

"Simplified," she mused out loud. "That would be nice."

"Is your life not simple, then?" Hayley thought for a moment about her life now in Mystic Falls, where Hope went to school.

"I suppose it has been simple…simpler. For awhile now." She acquiesced, quietly.

Elijah stilled his fork mid-bite over his plate, and when Hayley looked at up at him he was watching her, his head tilted and his eyes pondering. She suddenly felt her cheeks heat. "Are you sad?"

"What?" She coughed on her last sip of blood, startled by his direct but gentle question. By the look in his eyes—one she knew so, so well.

"Are you sad?" He asked again. "You seem… so sad. Tell me; how is one so beautiful, so sad?"

His brown eyes looked directly into hers, over the soft glowing light from the lone votive on the table between them. As a hybrid, he couldn't compel her, she knew…and yet she felt compelled to answer him.

"Things…Life…isn't what I wanted."

"What did you want?"

You. I wanted you. More than anything.

"…Always and forever." She heard herself whisper.

As soon as she said it, it shook her from her trance. Elijah's eyes sharpened. "What did you say?" He asked.

Hayley gulped the last of David's blood, and stood up. "This has been very nice—thank you! I—I think I need to go now-" She moved toward the door, but he was there in front of her, grabbing both her arms. His brow crinkled is question.

"What did you say?"

"I need to go now, Elijah" She tried.

"Please. Tell me what that means—'always and forever'! Why did you say that? I…these words, I think of them!" He gave her a gentle shake. "Tell me."

"Let go of me now. I need to go. They don't mean anything."

He didn't let her go. He held her tighter. He looked intensely into her face, causing her to avoid his gaze. "You're lying. It means something…It's something."

He pushed her back against the wall and one of his strong hands took hold of her face, forcing her to look at him. "Oh yes, it means something. And you being here? That means something, too."

"It means I came to the wrong fucking place to get away from it all. That's it. Now let me go!" With her words, she gave him a strong shove, allowing her eyes to glow in golden warning. He was pushed back several feet from her, yet she stayed leaning, breathing in panic against the wall.

He raised his chin at her glowing eyes, his own narrowing. But then he pointed at her, "I am tired of others knowing things about me, which I can't seem to remember myself! That is why I came here—escaped Paris! And I had found quiet. And then you—Leigh is it? I can see you are something like me, but not. And I can tell-Yes, you know me."

He ventured a careful step toward her.

"You know me. Tell me."

Hayley felt frozen, held in place by his gaze against the wall. "Stay away," she warned.

He took another step, his eyes never leaving hers. Then another. "Stay back, I'm warning you…" She spoke so softly, she hardly heard herself.

"You won't hurt me. Whatever you are. A werewolf? Vampire? It matters not …I know you won't."

She felt water trail down her face.

Oh Hayley, you fucked up.

Hayley wiped her cheek and looked at him, with a half mad smile and disbelief in her now again hazel eyes. This man. She had spent more time not with him, than with him. First the five years he was daggered, while she tried so hard to find the ways to bring them all back together! And when she'd done it, when she'd seen him again, nothing had changed for her.

She loved him. Loved him so fucking much!

And then, they'd had almost no time together before fate had driven them apart again… And another five years had passed… But here she was looking at his beautiful face, and knowing she still loved him so much it was killing her.

I've always loved you, Elijah. From the first time I saw you I loved you.

It's the way it always was. She was a wolf, and she mated for life. This was her curse. But she was a vampire, too.

So she was going to love him forever.

"I'm cursed!" She yelled. His eyes widened in surprise, and then softened. He stepped again, hands out in front of him as if not to startle a wild rabbit.

"No more than I, I assure you." He sounded sad. She'd made him sad. She hated herself. She should have never come here!

"You don't know me," She whispered. Hayley thought of the amber amulet under her shirt.

"I feel as if I do…"

Then, suddenly, he was up against her. His hard body holding hers to the wall again. "Somehow, I feel as if I do know you… Tell me," He asked, desperation in his voice, his gaze pinning her in place. "Tell me why." He brought his hand up to stroke her hair, cup her cheek, feathered his fingers over her lips…

And she was done fighting.

She took his face between her hands, her thumbs stroking his skin. His eyes wordlessly questioned her. "Have you ever done something so stupid? So selfish, but you just couldn't help yourself?" She asked. But she knew. Elijah was never selfish. He was goddamned noble.

"I don't…know. I—"

Hayley brought her lips to his, lightly, hesitantly. Their mouths hovered there, breath mingling, hearts beating loudly together. Still.

Just this kiss.

She gasped for ragged breath in the space between their lips.

Elijah grabbed her up hard, and pulled her into him with a throaty moan.