A/N I am really, really sorry. It took an awful long time to write this chapter but muse was a real bitch. Anyway, I hope you like it. Since the last chapter got none reviews at all, I assume most of you didn't like it. That's okay, really, you don't have to like every single chapter. But please let me know if there is something I can change. I want you to enjoy this story, not to force your way through it. By letting me know what bothered you, you're not only helping me, but yourself as well ;)

Katerina straddled Elijah's lap and again let him slide into her. Gently she rocked her hips against him, kissing him breathlessly while his hands roamed her body and caressed her breasts. Elijah pulled free from the kiss and started kissing her jaw line, the skin over her throat and finally the valley between her breasts.

Katerina closed her eyes and let herself carry away for a moment. Then she pushed against his chest, showing him to lay down. Only reluctantly he let go of her and leaned back until his back hit the crumbled sheets on the mattress. His hands wandered to her hips and he groaned as she wriggled on top of him to adjust to this new position. Tantalizingly slow she rose and sunk down again, grinning as Elijah grew impatient.

"Just enjoy for once", she chastised him, leaning forward to kiss him while her hips kept moving in this unhasty, hypnotizing way. "And don't you dare interrupt me."

"Oh, but I love the danger", Elijah responded, using his vampire speed to change positions so Katerina now lied in front of him. His hips started thrusting while lifting one of her legs up so she could wrap it around his waist. Instead of answering she threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him in for a bruising kiss to smother her moans. His thrusts grew deeper, faster and all too soon Katerina felt the familiar tightening in her stomach.

"Elijah, please", she mumbled incoherently, meeting Elijah's every movement. Grabbing the headboard with his left hand for support, Elijah again increased his thrusts until he felt his own end nearing. Katerina came with a guttural moan and clung onto the original vampire as for dear life. He shuddered and followed suit. With a few more thrusts he helped Katerina riding out her climax before he pulled out and lied down beside her, propping up on one elbow.

Katerina tried to catch her breath, then she turned towards Elijah. "You're unbelievable."

A crooked smile appeared on his lips, as he stretched out to caress her cheek. "I know. It is an original thing." In silence he watched her a few moments, enjoying the sensation of her soft skin beneath his fingertips. "I love you, Katerina. Don't you ever run away again."

Katerina returned the smile, clasping her hand around his. "Are you scared you won't ever catch me again, my lord? I wonder how many ladies you've chased over the centuries."

"Only one", Elijah swore. "I was too occupied with finding you to run after other women's skirts. And now that I found you I do not intend to lose you again."

"There was no other woman all this time? Not even one? And that's while you're some handsome devil?" Katerina teased him and kissed every one of his fingertips. "I don't believe you."

"Do you really want to talk about former love interests? I would knew something better." Elijah freed his hand and shifted his position until he came to lie between Katerina's legs and started kissing her stomach.

"Please, mercy!" Katerina laughed breathlessly and slapped Elijah playfully at the chest. "I'm human and as much as I want to spend the rest of my life with you in a bed, but if we now start all over again, I fear I won't be able to walk the next few days."

Grinning Elijah lifted his head but remained in his position. "Pity. I would have had so much in mind."

"I'll take your word for it." Katerina rose into a sitting position and pulled Elijah in for a kiss. "But I did notice that you avoided to answer. Is it that bad? Was she another doppelgänger?"

Elijah, too, scrambled up into a sitting position, across from Katerina and took one of her hands in his, while he gently shook his head. "You are the only doppelgänger I ever shared my bed with. Elena is beyond all question; she is a girl, nothing more. And concerning Tatia… I was a noble fool back then, who would never dare to take a woman to bed before the wedding night."

"Some would say, you're a noble fool until today", Katerina commented with a crooked smile.

"Why do you always have to interrupt me?" Elijah chastised only half serious. "Anyway, at the beginning of the nineteenth century we were in New Orleans. There I met Celeste, a witch. Usually it was Kol, who was fond of witches but she lured me in. We spent a lot of time together and I came to fancy her. But as often my luck was short-lived. Niklaus rounded the witches up and I came too late; she was already dead."

"Seems to be a common trope: Klaus ruining your life. He really needs some hobbies." She wasn't sorry that Celeste died. Otherwise she would have to compete with that damn witch as well. No, Katerina was only sorry that Elijah had again lost someone, although it was some idiotic bitch-witch.

Elijah chuckled slightly. "Well, yes, until today no one dared tell him that. Celeste is long dead and those times are long gone. It happens to see people die, even those you love."

"Did you know that I was for a short period of time in New Orleans? After I had been in Mystic Falls", Katerina started telling. "I managed to escape the church before they burnt it down and went to New Orleans. Marcel needed some help strengthening his kingdom and it was a fun time. Only later I learned that Klaus had turned him."

"You helped Marcel? Don't let Niklaus know." Elijah sighed and pinched the back of his nose. "He is furious that Marcel took over after we left town and now refuses to give New Orleans back. If he would know that you helped Marcel… Let's assume it would be another hair in his soup."

Katerina grinned. "But I'm good at being the hair in his soup." She grew more serious again and took his hand to gently stroke it. "So, aside from Celeste, there really was no woman? All the time you searched for me? That's… impressive."

"You seem surprised." Elijah closed his eyes and enjoyed her ministrations.

"As I said, you're handsome enough that women had been wooing you on every step." She shrugged and smiled at him. "But somehow I'm glad you mostly lived like a monk. So I can have you all to myself."

"I rather not ask how many men have been in your bed since you ran away", Elijah commented dryly.

Katerina innocently fluttered her eyelids. "Honestly, I could not even name a number if you'd hold a pistol to my head."

"Well, that is way more information than I ever wanted to know." Elijah jumped from the bed and walked towards the bathroom door. With the hand on the doorknob he stopped and turned around. "You're coming?"

"Of course!"

"Where did you find this chef, Nadia? He's brilliant", said Katerina, using the last piece of baguette to dip up the sauce. "Can we take him home?"

"I'm sure I could convince him", Nadia laughed, swirling the red wine in her glass. "He works at a high-end restaurant in London. They already found someone to pitch in, so I guess they can do without him some time longer."

"I would have needed him when I was busy pillaging the Seven Seas."

Elijah as well as Nadia looked at her with surprise. Finally the former cleared his throat. "You acted as a pirate? When?"

Katerina shrugged her shoulders. "Sometime in the sixteen hundreds. It was fun, but the food could have been better. And with that I'm meaning human food and human as food. Although I had some of the hottest pirates in my crew."

"But why?" Nadia wanted to know, an exciting gleam in her eyes. "If you had been renowned Klaus would have found you more easily."

"No. He would have known about her more easily but it is difficult to find a ship offshore." Elijah regarded her with something like approval and leaned towards her to kiss her hair. "Quite smart. What made you quit this lifestyle?"

Katerina shrugged again. "As I said, the food was not the best. And it grew old. Most men didn't take me for full and I buried so much of this gold, I could buy half Australia. Well, maybe not, but it was plenty. I kept some pieces but I sunk my ship. It was too beautiful to let someone else have it."

"So you would ban Elijah to Arielle just so nobody else could have him?" Nadia grinned like a cheshire cat and put her plate aside.

"Arielle?" Elijah seemed confused. "I do not know any woman with this name."

"I'm sure about that. Or at least that you don't know the Arielle Nadia meant. It's a children's story about a mermaid. And no, I would not drown you. At least not for the reason that nobody else could have you." Katerina blinked innocently but neither doubted she would have her plan for that case.

"Have you ever been a pirate, Elijah?" Nadia decided to better change the subject. She knew her mother could be quite possessive, especially when it came to Elijah. No need to fuel those feelings.

Elijah smiled and shook his head. "No. I was born a Viking but seldom did we go to sea if it wasn't for fishing. My father was more a man of hunting although we kept our gods. I had been born on a ship and I had no desire to pose as a pirate after my transition. Niklaus, Rebekah and I more often interacted with the noble class. The French Revolution was quite agitating at its time."

Nadia nodded. "I was in Paris during that time but left before things got too nasty. I understood people's desire to fight for their rights, but it wasn't my battle. I left France and headed for America since I heard my mother was there."

"During the French Revolution?" Katerina squinted her eyes while trying to remember. "I think I was in New York, falling asleep while George Washington was inaugurated. Didn't make it to be First Lady but I guess I would just have been bored to death. Oh, and Jefferson brought a macaroni machine from Europe. Trust me, this guy absolutely knew what people wanted."

"Macaroni? Really?" Elijah smiled and gently squeezed her shoulder. "If I would have known that you are satisfied by the simpler things in life…"

"Cheese macaroni are one of the greater inventions of mankind", countered Katerina. "There is nothing better on cold winter days and as a vampire you don't have to count calories."

"Would you like some? I bet the chef would be in a snit but he would cook it either way", Nadia suggested but Katerina only smiled.

"No, it's fine. When did you come over the big pond? Right after the French Revolution started?"

Nadia considered the question for a moment. "I think it was spring seventeen hundred ninety-nine. Philadelphia. Wasn't easy to find someone who could describe you. You knew how to cover your tracks." She grimaced and pulled her feet underneath her.

"Yeah, but you did a better job than Klaus", Katerina commented with a smirk. "He was always one step behind, a little too slow. Aside from that one time when he caught me in that teacher's apartment. That was unfair, really."

"Well, I saw to it that Niklaus didn't find you." Elijah let the wine in his glass circle. "He was occupied with finding a useful doppelgänger. Since the revenge on you only was second to that, it fell into my scope of responsibility to shift through the reports of sightings of you. Niklaus got his information, but later than he should. I couldn't do much more to protect you because as Nadia observed: you were hard to find."

Katerina only smiled and thankfully squeezed his hand. She was glad he tried to keep Klaus from finding her. Maybe it hadn't only been her luck and survival instincts that kept her alive for so long. "I always wondered why he never caught me while having endless resources at his hands", Katerina remarked with a sly smile. "I have been a long time in Ireland for example. Bam Stoker was really kind to me. Showed me the natural beauty and introduced me to his friends. After he met me, he decided to write Dracula." She laughed softly.

"You told him about vampirism?" Elijah shook his head. "Why am I not surprised? But Dracula has so little in common with us, are you sure you inspired him?"

"Well, at least he thought about the three vampire ladies in Dracula's castle after we spent a night together", Katerina said while innocently fluttering her eyelids.

Ere Elijah could muster some sort of response, Maisie came bursting in, out of breath from running through the hallways and down the stairs. "I think I found something. It's just a footnote and I'm not sure at all if it works the way I think it does. Look, here." She laid the grimoire in the tiny coffee table and stabbed her finger at one passage that was scribbled at the margin. "There. The potion takes effect on every doppelgänger as long as they are human. Seemingly it doesn't care if there are other potions involved. This would mean, that she would wake up again the same age she had been when she was sucked dry. So as long as she gets killed with the potion in her system while she still looks like she does right now, she should wake up roughly the same age."

Maisie obviously gleamed about her discovery, but Nadia only crossed her arms. "Seemingly? Should? That seems a little vague to me, don't you think?"

"If you have another solution, feel free to share", Maisie snapped. "It's not like I'm here because I want to help, you know. So take what I can offer or not, I don't care."

"What about Niklaus?" Elijah chimed in, trying to avoid blood being spilled. "Does he has to be the one who kills Katherine? Or could anyone do that?" He trusted his little brother to keep his promise of not harming Katerina when he took her with him to New Orleans, but a nagging voice at the back of his head kept whispering, that Niklaus sure as hell would not make it a short death.

Maisie glowered one last time at Nadia before turning towards Elijah. "I guess not. She only has to be killed by someone who really wants to kill her. Who wants her to stay dead and not to come back. Someone with murder in his or her heart." The young witch shrugged. "If you have someone at your hands who hates her deeply, it would be kind of perfect."

"That would be the least of our problems", Katerina noted dryly and pulled the grimoire nearer to read the lines herself, but it was no language she could understand. She hated trusting a witch blindly. "What about turning me back into a vampire? Does your clever book tell you something about that?"

"Well… kind of", Maisie admitted hesitantly and sighed, when Katerina regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "The normal way won't work. Drinking a vampire's blood and dying. The effects of the Cure would still be coursing through your system, no matter what kind of potions and spells I can dig out. Once you took it, it never vanishes again."

"So there's only a human's life for me? A normal human life?" Anger crept in Katerina's voice. She would live, yes, but how long? Sixty years? Seventy? Maybe eighty? And then again she would be facing death, creeping nearer and nearer until he had her in his claws. Abruptly she shook Elijah's hand off her shoulder and stood up, pacing anxiously.

"I- I don't know", Maisie admitted, raising her hands helplessly. "It's just-"

"What about a spell to turn her?" Elijah interrupted, a determined glimmer in his eyes. "No vampire's blood but magic and only a few drops of blood to finish her transition."

Nadia looked at him in confusion, but Maisie seemed to get even smaller as if the weight of his suggestion was pushing her down. "I don't know such a spell. Maybe it could work since it would be direct magic and not adulterated as it would be through vampire blood, but I'm not sure. I never heard of such a spell. And even if we could dig up such a thing, I'm not powerful enough for it. It sounds like something really huge."

"It would be an enormous spell", Katerina remarked, nodding slightly at Elijah. "A spell worth of the Original Witch, am I right? Pity she's dead."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Nadia asked but nobody seemed to notice.

Elijah stood up, hands in his pocket. "Death does not necessarily erase knowledge. I need to make some calls. Maisie, would you be so kind as to look closer if a transformation would be possible? I don't care if through vampire blood or through a spell, although the first option would be a lot less difficult." He headed for the gardens but paused when he passed Katerina. "We will find a way", he muttered so low, that even Nadia needed to strain her ears to hear him. "I promised you to not let you die this time and I'm a man to keep my word. But you have to trust me."

"I do", Katerina simply answered and managed a little smile.

"Good. Why don't Nadia and you go to bed? It is late already and I do not know how long it will take." He softly kissed her on the cheek. "Sleep well. I will join you later." Then he vanished through the French doors and into the night.

Well, what do you think? I guess some of you could already think of what Elijah has in mind, right? ;)