Chapter three

Drinks on me

Kassandra quickly turned around, eyes wide. She doubted Elijah being at the bar she worked at was a bad thing, that he'd kill her. But you never knew with originals. She didn't trust them. Besides, the more time they spent together, the more likely Elijah was to remember her. And Kassandra preferred to remain anonymous.

She took a deep breath and looked back to Elijah. She had to act normal. Maybe he wouldn't remember her, from the ball or from their human life. One look in Elijah's eyes and Kassandra knew that he had much bigger things on his mind than some strange girl he met at his family's ball. He looked deep in thought, and she could see through the crack in his stoic mask. Something big had happened to him, something bad. Elijah looked lost and hurt and… betrayed. Worse, he didn't look surprised by the betrayal.

Without asking, Kassandra poured him a shot of bourbon and pushed it in front of him. He looked up at her, startled. She saw a flicker of recognition in his brown eyes, but he didn't say anything about it. "I didn't order this," he said, eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"But you need it. Badly," she said, pushing it closer to him. "You need a shot of bourbon like a fish needs water. Unless you can't handle it?" she raised an eyebrow, teasing him. "I can always make you one of those girly drinks, with fruit and an umbrella."

A faint smile played across Elijah's lips, before he silently tossed the shot back with an ease that could only be achieved by a person comfortable with drinking whiskey. Kassandra poured him another, and he drank that too.

When he went to reach for his wallet, she waved him away. He hesitated, his hand still in his pocket. "Drink's on me," she told him. Kassandra didn't know what had overcome him to comp his drinks, but she felt like she had to. He looked beyond stressed. Elijah deserved a few free shots of bourbon.

"Are you sure?" he asked, and Kassandra nodded.

"Your money's no good here," she added when Elijah didn't remove his hand from his pocket. He sighed, but finally nodded.

Kassandra refilled his shot glass, but Elijah didn't reach to drink it. Along her, other customers buzzed, waiting to have their orders taken. Some cleared their throats in agitation, trying to get her attention. Kassandra ignored them, though. She didn't take her eyes off of Elijah, and she didn't leave him. A part of her- the part that was full of dangerous curiosity- wanted to know what was the cause of this lost looking original. He wasn't talking, though. Usually, she would have been grateful. Drunken customers had a tendency to spill their problems out to her. She had enough problems by herself without dealing with theirs. But now, she wanted Elijah to spill his problems out to her, she wanted her curiosity to be satisfied. He wasn't talking, though. Kassandra knew better than to push him.

"Hey, lady!"

Kassandra's hazel eyes flickered over to an angry looking customer. "Do you wanna start doing your job and take other people's orders?" he asked her dryly.

She rolled her eyes. "Fuck off," she said, turning back to Elijah.

The man cursed her out and then left. Several others left too. Elijah chuckled and Kassandra raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not very good at your job, are you?"

Kassandra wasn't offended. She merely shrugged. "I guess that's open to interpretation. I'm good at the dealing with alcohol part. With all the drinking I do on my spare time, one would think that this would be my dream job. It's the dealing with customers I suck at. This may shock you, but my people skills are a little rusty." She smirked at him.

Elijah smiled again, the corners of his mouth twitching upward. "I never would have noticed if you hadn't told me," he teased, staring down his shot of bourbon.

"If you don't mind me asking, why haven't you lost your job yet?" Elijah asked her.

Kassandra didn't mind. "I'm sleeping with the owner," she replied casually. Elijah raised his eyebrows but said nothing more.

"That was a joke," she informed him. "The owner's creepy- I havesomestandards."

Elijah relaxed a bit, his smile coming back. "You have a strange sense of humor."

Kassandra shrugged. "So I've been told."

"Though, I suppose it's hard to be fired from a job when you can just compel the owner to hire you again," he continued casually.

Kassandra stiffened. She didn't expect him to bring this up. She didn't expect him to remember her. But Elijah was craftier, more cunning than he seemed. He was smarter, too. Of course he remembered her. He just didn't remember everything.

"You remember," she muttered, her eyes tracing the pattern in the bar.

"I do," Elijah agreed simply.

"Do you remember who I am?" she asked, looking up and meeting his eyes.

Elijah raised an eyebrow. "So wehavemet before."

"I'll take that as a no," Kassandra said. "You just remember me from the ball."

"Yes, the strange little party crasher, silently judging everybody while inhaling large amounts of champagne," Elijah said.

Kassandra shrugged. "Yeah, that sounds like me."

"What were you doing there, at the ball?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow again.

Kassandra thought about telling Elijah the truth or not. She shrugged, before thinkingwhat the hell?"Your mother invited me," she admitted, picking up a rag and wiping the already spotless bar. "So, technically, I wasn't a party crasher."

Elijah's eyes darkened at the mention of his mother. Kassandra raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem so happy with Esther. What'd she do to you?"

He looked down at the bar. "I don't want to talk about my mother," he said finally. Whatever had put him into this state, Kassandra knew that it had something to do with Esther.

"Understandable. She's a conniving bitch," Kassandra said bluntly. Then she looked back up at him and raised an eyebrow daringly. "Or should I not talk about your mother like that?"

"You can talk about my mother however you like," Elijah said. "I bet whatever you have to say about her is true."

Yes, something had definitely happened between Elijah and his mother.

The two fell into a silence. That's when Kassandra started to notice that the bar was almost completely empty. Only drunks, college kids, bored looking waitresses- Ruby among them- and her and Elijah remained inGracie's.Whether that had to do with Kassandra's lack of people skills or not, she didn't know.

"Don't you think it isn't fair that you know everything about me, yet I don't even know your name?" he continued, pulling Kassandra's attention back to him.

She was suddenly glad that she forgot her nametag at home. "Not really. You and your family's famous- I'm just a strange little party crasher, silently judging everybody while inhaling large amounts of champagne," she said with a slight smirk, repeating his earlier words.

Elijah suddenly looked determined. Kassandra was sure that the shots of bourbon were starting to get him drunk. "What's your name?" he asked her.

Kassandra looked away. She wasn't read to reveal her identity just yet. "You'll have to earn that," she told him.

A challenge. Elijah didn't particularly mind challenges, but he didn't search them out either. Yet, and it could have very easily been the alcohol he had consumed, he liked the idea of the girl in front of him, the familiar stranger, being a challenge. The alcohol definitely had something to do with it.

"Then I'll earn it," Elijah said, as if that was simplest thing ever.

"Kassandra smirked slightly. She liked his confidence. "Good luck, then. I'm not so easily impressed," she informed him.

"No, I don't think you are," he agreed. "You don't seem like that kind of woman."

"Good, because I'm not."

Elijah pushed his shot glass around. "Honestly, should remember you? Really, should I?" he asked quietly after a few silent moments.

Kassandra studied her nails, the black paint on them chipped. "Honestly? No, you shouldn't. We met a long time ago. I don't think we've ever been in the same room alone together. And the longest conversation we've ever had last about five words. That's why I'm not offended that you don't remember me," she told him.

"Then how come you remember me?" Elijah retorted, eyes wide with a brutal honesty that could only be achieved by alcohol.

Kassandra looked down again. That was a good question. How come she remembered the originals perfectly, yet Elijah couldn't even remember her name? She didn't know the answer, and she didn't want to know. She was sure that it would make her sad and pathetic and weak, things Kassandra wasn't.

"That's a good question," she said and nothing more. Elijah frowned at her, studying her features. She was familiar. The longer he talked to her, the more familiar she became. He wanted to know so badly. Her name was on the tip of his tongue. He knew who she was, he just couldn't remember.

"How long have you been a vampire?" Elijah asked Kassandra suddenly.

"A very long time," she told him, grabbing a random glass and washing it, not caring if it was dirty or not.

"As long as me?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She nodded slowly. "Yes, I believe that I'm around your age, younger, of course. But I don't have the cool powers you originals do." She smirked at him. She was giving him so many clues, more than she wanted to give.

Elijah smiled his smile. It was a hundred percent Elijah. No other being-human or otherwise- possessed it. Suddenly, something occurred to him. "I could compel you to tell me who you are," he said slowly.

Kassandra shrugged. Of course the thought had already occurred to her. She wasn't stupid, after all. "Yes, I suppose you could," she said. "But you won't."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "And what makes you so sure?"

"Because that would be cheating, Elijah," she said with a teasing grin. "And I've heard you to be more honorable than that."

That was the first time Kassandra had spoken his name to him. For some reason, some strange reason, it changed things between them. It made things more real.

"Come on, let's go."

Kassandra looked up at Ruby, who raised her eyebrows at her friend, a smirk playing on her lips. She had no idea that her vampire friend was talking to an original. All she saw was a hot, slightly drunk man who looked good in a suit.

"I'm making Tasha close up. Now you better walk me home. I don't trust this neighborhood past midnight. I mean, unless you have other plans…" Ruby trailed off, her smirk growing bigger.

Kassandra rolled her eyes, not embarrassed in the slightest by her friend's suggestive words. "It's fine, Ruby. I'll meet you up front in a second."

Ruby winked at Kassandra before walking away, leaving Elijah and Kassandra alone. "You better be going," he said. "I better be going."

Kassandra nodded, though she really didn't want to leave. She actually enjoyed talking to Elijah. He was good company slightly drunk. She didn't know how he was completely sober. She kind of wanted to find out.

"It was nice talking to you," Kassandra continued, slowly walking around the bar. "We'll have to do it again some other time."

Elijah nodded but didn't say anything else. As Kassandra walked past him, she stopped suddenly and leaned into him, so that her breath tickled his ear. "My name's Kassandra," she whispered, before pulling away.

She didn't know what had compelled her to tell him her name, but she just had to. She wanted to. Kassandra quickly pulled away from him, and she was out of the bar before Elijah looked back at her, recognition dawning in his eyes.

He remembered who she was.

~SYH~

A/N:thank you to: Lady Wesker, Katherine Sparrow, Belinda and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

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~Abby :)