Chapter Twenty One

Something Like That

"Peter!" Kassandra screamed, running after her brother. Her bare feet pounded against the ground, stones cutting into her skin as she ran. "Peter, come back!"

"Kassie! Her brother yelled, his voice coming from everywhere at once. "Help me, Kassie. A monster's got me. Save me!"

Kassandra ran faster, her lungs aching. But she couldn't stop. Not if Peter was in danger. She had to save him. She was his big sister, and that was what big sisters did. They saved their little brothers from monsters.

She ran through clearings and through patches of forest. Branches whipped at her skin, scratching her face, but she didn't stop. "Peter!" she screamed again. "Peter!"

She came to a stop at the edge of a clearing in the woods. A hooded figure held her little brother by his throat. His blonde hair was pasted to his head by sweat, and his blue eyes were full of sheer terror. Her heart broke, looking at him. Without thinking, she lunged for him, but the hooded monster let out a cackle and yanked Peter out of her reach.

"Not so fast, Kassie," the monster hissed in a familiar and bone chilling voice. "We both know you don't save him. You don't save anybody. You're not the hero of the story, you're the villain."

Kassandra took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders back. "Give me my brother back," she demanded.

The monster scoffed, and even though she couldn't see its eyes beneath its cloak, she had a sense the creature rolled them at her. "Why put the effort into saving someone you can't?" it said, its grip tightening on Peter. She heard her brother whimper beneath the monster's grip. "Your brother is dead, Kassie. Stop trying to save him."

Kassandra shook her head, her dirty braid shaking with it. "No. He's not. He's alive. He lives. See? He's alive right-" She cut herself off and gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. Her brother was dead on his feet, his rotting skin and maggots the obvious giveaway.

"He's dead, Kassie," the monster repeated. "And it's your fault."

Kassandra took a step back, shaking her head repeatedly. "No. No. it's not."

"You killed him!" it exclaimed, letting go of Peter and stalking forward. "He died because of you. You should have kept him safe from the monsters, Kassie. Why did you let the monsters drain your little brother dry?"

"I didn't," She sobbed. "I promise, I didn't."

The monster lifted its hood, and her own face stared back at her, cruel and merciless. Blood covered Kassandra's face, and fangs poked out of her mouth.

"Monsters killed Peter, Kassie," the monster purred, flashing in front of her. "And we're monsters."

A growl ripped out of the monster's throat, before it sank it's fangs into Kassandra's neck.

"Kassandra."

She gasped, her eyes flying open. It was just another nightmare. Another stupid fucking nightmare constantly reminding her of the one thing she wanted to take back the most but never could.

Elijah frowned at her, concern in his brown eyes. Kassandra sat up and stretched, avoiding his questioning gaze. "Was I talking in my sleep?" she asked after a few seconds of silence.

"More like screaming," he replied quietly. "I tried to wake you up for five minutes, but I couldn't."

She sighed and closed her eyes, slumping against her pillow. "Sorry that I woke you up," she muttered, pulling his shirt tighter around her body.

She had the tendency to steal Elijah's shirts after they had sex. It was as if she was claiming a souvenir. She just slept in them, but if Elijah forgot to ask for them back, she kept them. Secretly, he never forgot that she had his shirt. There was just a part of him that liked the idea that Kassandra kept things of his. It was just something that would remind others that she spent that night with him. If Kassandra ever found out that one bit of possessiveness Elijah allowed himself to have, she'd stab him in the throat.

Elijah shot her a look. "I couldn't care less about loss of sleep, Kassandra," he told her.

She opened one eye to look at him. "That's where you and I differ, Elijah," she said. "See, if anyone ever dared take away sleep from me, I'd rip them open and feed them their own organs."

He stared hard at her, and Kassandra sighed again. Clearly he wouldn't let them change topic. "This isn't the first time you've had nightmares, is it?" he asked her.

She shrugged, finding it hard to meet his eyes. "No," she admitted. "I've had them off and on for the past nine hundred years. No big deal."

"And they're all about Peter."

She snapped her head to look at him, her face hard. "Yes. My brother."

Elijah nodded slowly. "I remember him," he told her.

Kassandra frowned up at him. "You do?"

"He was Henrik's best friend," he said "Peter would tag along whenever we tried to teach Henrik how to swordfight. He was a good kid."

She smiled almost ruefully. "Better than I ever was."

"And you two were very close," Elijah stated. He didn't mean it as a question, but Kassandra nodded anyway.

"He was the only person I ever knew that never got sick of me. No matter how mean I was to him, the kid wouldn't leave me alone. So, eventually, I stopped trying to push him away." Kassandra sighed, closing her eyes.

"We don't have to talk about him, if you don't want to," Elijah told her quickly, but she shook her head.

"No. I… I want to tell you about him," she admitted honestly. She rested her arm over her eyes. It was easier to talk to Elijah about Peter when she wasn't looking at him. "Ruby's trying to get me to talk about him more."

"Did you ever find his body?" Elijah asked softly, looking up at the ceiling. She shook her head.

"No. I looked for years, before and after I turned. I tortured and bribed and blackmailed anybody who had any information where my little brother's body was, but I never found it." Her heart, dead and still in her chest, seemed to ache as she talked about Peter.

"How do you know he died in the village then?" Elijah dared to speak out loud. "Maybe he escaped."

Kassandra shot him a hard look, her eyes seeming to burn him. But, even still, he didn't shrink back. "Don't be ridiculous, Elijah," he snapped. "He died when you and your siblings became vampires."

Elijah remained silent. "I… I didn't play any part in his death, Kassandra," he told her honestly. "And, as far as I know, neither did my brothers or my sister."

She looked up at him, surprised. "I didn't think that you did, Elijah. There were other vampires that you all turned. I figured one of them did it."

He nodded, still staring up at Kassandra's ceiling. There were small cracks in it, and it was an off white. It was dirty, and Elijah wondered how she could stare up at it every night and not be bothered by it. Kassandra was much less of a neat freak than he was, though.

"You blame yourself," he stated bluntly. "For Peter's death."

Kassandra inhaled sharply. "Yeah, I do."

"Nine hundred years, you've carried the weight of guilt on your shoulders," he continued, talking more to himself than to her. "No wonder-" he cut himself off abruptly.

Kassandra raised an eyebrow. "No wonder what?"

No wonder she closed herself off, distanced herself from others. Kassandra believed herself to be cursed. The only person she had ever loved, ever been close to, had died. And she blamed herself for that death. If Elijah could go back in time, he'd make sure no vampire- related to him or otherwise- harmed Peter Patrikson. If he could've saved Kassandra from that heartache, he would've done everything in his power to.

Elijah didn't say any of this, though.

"He was my baby brother, Elijah," Kassandra stated suddenly. "And he died on my watch. Of course I feel guilty, like it's my fault. Because it is."

"I understand," he said. "I know what it's like, the responsibility of the elder sibling."

Kassandra couldn't explain it, but she felt lighter in the chest, as if explaining everything about Peter to Elijah had lessened the weight on her shoulders. Kassandra didn't feel defensive, now that Elijah knew what plagued her every day. She felt… safe. It was completely foolish of her, but Kassandra felt completely and utterly safe with him.

Elijah's fingers grazed her wrist, and, eyes still closed, she caught his hand with her own. For just a few seconds, Kassandra allowed herself to grip Elijah's hand tightly. She didn't know if she meant it as a thank you, for listening to her, or to show how much she did need him, not that she would ever, ever tell him that.

But then Kassandra pulled her hand away, only allowing herself to lean on someone else for a certain amount of time.

Elijah smiled slightly- ruefully, almost- as Kassandra turned on her side, her back facing him. But, as far as progress went, Kassandra shared more of herself with him that night than she had ever shared with anyone ever.

Before attempting to go back to sleep like Kassandra was, Elijah leaned over her and kissed the top of her head. She blinked slowly, as he pulled away and went back to his side of the bed.

It was then and there, in her bed at 3:13 in the morning, that Kassandra admitted to herself that she did have romantic feelings for Elijah. And it killed her that she did.

~SYH~

"So, what's the plan for today?" Kassandra asked, spreading out across her couch. Her blonde hair was long, and it hung off the couch while covering her face. It was one of the rare moments Kassandra had her walls down, and Elijah couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked.

"We should probably go looking more into Lenore, see if we could find any information that might help us break her," he replied, waiting for her coffee maker to finish the pot. Even though it was her apartment, he always seemed to be the one to make the coffee.

Kassandra pouted. "Ugh, can we do something that requires less energy and focus?" she suggested.

"Does it necessarily matter?" Elijah replied. "Either way, I'm going to be the one doing most of the work and you'll just make suggestive comments and distract me."

She smirked up at him. "You've never minded it before."

"I didn't say I did now," he retorted, and her grin widened. Elijah began to make them two cups of coffee, just as his phone started to ring on Kassandra's table.

Before he could go to answer it, Kassandra blurred to the table and got it. "Elijah's phone," she said, looking right at him with a smirk on her lips.

"You must be Shirt Girl," an amused yet disgruntled voice said on the other end of the line. "I must say, a day hasn't passed by where my sister hasn't found a way to complain about you. Impressive, since none of us know who you are."

"Do you all really refer to me as 'Shirt Girl'?" Kassandra asked, frowning. Though she felt completely on edge, knowing she was having a conversation with Klaus- the Klaus. Half vampire, half werewolf. Completely feared by everyone she had ever run into that knew of the originals.

"Well, Rebekah has a much more colorful moniker she prefers to call you. Believe me, if you knew what it was, you wouldn't be complaining about 'Shirt Girl'." Klaus seemed entertained by her, and he didn't seem to remember her either; at least, not by her voice. Both of these were good things.

"Let me talk to my brother," Elijah said, standing in front of her with his hand out for his phone. She frowned but handed it over to him without complaining.

"You're no fun," she told him, accepting the mug of coffee in exchange for the cell phone.

Elijah didn't respond as Kassandra retreated to her bedroom, most likely to change into something that wasn't his shirt from last night and nothing else. It was a shame, but one couldn't have everything they wanted.

"What do you want, Niklaus?" he asked as soon as she was gone.

"I wish to know why you have left us again, Brother," Klaus replied, his voice void of any amusement it held prior Elijah taking his phone back.

Elijah sighed. He hadn't exactly explained to his siblings that he was returning to New York. He didn't want to give them the chance to make any comments on Kassandra. It drove him absolutely mad that they called her Shirt Girl.

"Does it matter, Niklaus? I am just as dedicated to stopping Esther and Finn here as I would be there," he said stubbornly.

"Maybe, but I have a witch in my basement at this very moment," Klaus retorted.

"A witch that I delivered to you," Elijah pointed out.

"A witch that hasn't given any useful information to us whatsoever."

"That is not my fault," he said, his jaw set the entire time he spoke to his brother.

"No, perhaps not. But I believe your attention would be more focused solely on the task at hand if you remained at Mystic Falls with your family," Klaus told him, and Elijah closed his eyes.

"What are you insinuating?" he asked his brother slowly.

"That the woman I spoke to moments before is the reason you've returned at all. She is also the reason you haven't been completely focused on stopping the threat. Need I remind you how easy it would be to wipe our family out right now? What happens to one happens to all-"

Elijah cut him off. "I haven't forgotten," he said, teeth gritted together.

"Really? I'm surprised, you've been so busy wiping out werewolf packs and all," Klaus replied sarcastically.

Elijah paused. "How did you know that?" he asked suspiciously.

"I have my sources," Klaus said cryptically. "Though, that's not the point."

"Then what, may I ask, is the point of this entire conversation, brother?" Elijah asked, close to hanging up on him.

"The point is that your infatuation with this Shirt Girl is putting a major kink in our operations," Klaus said briskly. "Get rid of her."

"No."

He could practically hear his brother's eyebrows rise. "No?"

"You do not tell me what to do, Niklaus," he said, cold anger seeping into his tone. "I am not one of your subordinates. And, I swear on every god humans have ever worshipped, if you or any of your lackeys so much as lay a hand on her, it will not be Esther and Finn you will fear your demise from."

Klaus didn't respond right away. It seemed ages before he spoke again. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Elijah considered not responding, but slipped out a vague answer anyway. "Something like that."

"Elijah, you almost done?" Kassandra called from the other room, seemingly oblivious to the rather intense conversation he had been holding with his brother.

"Yes, I am," he answered, before turning back to Klaus. "I assure you, brother, I am not neglecting any duties on my part."

"Good. See to it that it stays that way." With a click, Klaus hung up.

Elijah let out a sigh, tucking his phone into his jacket pocket. He imagined a time where his family situation wasn't nearly as complicated, and he could enjoy a morning with Kassandra in peace.

He hoped that time came sooner rather than later.

~SYH~

A/N: thank you to: Lady Syndra, lily, SomebodyWhoCares, delenawolves, Lovely Rain Dancer, Nightwing's Gal, LeahlovesJacob, and jamiecarterannie for reviewing!

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~Abby :)