Chapter Five

He was watching her.

Again.

Elijah didn't know what it was about Elena Gilbert that drew his eye, but he found himself insanely attracted towards her. Maybe it was because she was something that Klaus claimed belonged to him, or maybe it was because she had been struck like an unbroken litany in his head since he had picked her up that night from the streets. Whatever the reason be-she was the one thing that was the constant part of his ever-changing life.

She was clad in a short dress of blue tonight-the color of Klaus's eyes.

Since the day his brother had come raging like an avenging angel in his home to deliver his warning, Elijah found that he wanted Elena Gilbert more desperately.

People would call it being a dick; he just called it competitive spirit.

He and Klaus had competed from childhood for everything. Be it sleeping space in their cramped one room childhood apartment or last day's leftover pasta-Elijah Mikaelson had never learnt to lose. He had lied, cheated, stepped on the necks of his own siblings for survival, and he would do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant he got what he wanted.

Klaus had been the result of their mother's dalliance with a mob boss which had supremely aggravated their low-life drug selling and whore pimping father. Klaus had never been spared an ounce of kindness, let alone love. Whereas he had been the perfect prince of their parents.

Naïve Klaus had adored him. He had thought Elijah had hung the stars, moon and sun, and Elijah had let him believe it until he could use Nicklaus for being who he was today.

There were sins, grave sins in his ledger that could never be erased. Were he someone else, he would have stayed far away from Elena. She made shadows in Klaus's eyes retreat. She made him smile. She made Klaus, Nicklaus.

But Elijah was a selfish man, and he had tasted the sun once. The brilliance and radiance of Elena Gilbert still lingered on his tongue, and her voice resonated in his head.

She was an angel who had fallen from heaven to redeem the devil in him.

And he would be a fool if he let Nicklaus steal his salvation.

Elena excused herself from the conversation that flowed between Kol and Marcel.

Talks of profit and business brought out her inner child and all she wanted to do was to stick her tongue out. Klaus had deserted her about an hour ago on the pretext of socializing with all the important people who had come for her album launching party.

It was a success, and if Klaus had his way, her album would be double platinum in no time.

Truth to be told, she was still afraid of these parties and socializing. Maybe, she always would be. It was not her scene. She could pretend to act like these people, talk like them, walk like them, but she wasn't one of them.

She would always feel like an imposter 'cause inside she would always remain Elena Gilbert from Mystic Falls. Never the glamorous songstress Elena that Klaus had molded her to be.

'Do I need to ply you with liquid courage again, love?' His voice was a husky whisper in her ear, and she smiled despite feeling a bit sad. She turned, and there he was. Standing close enough from where she could see the flecks of gold in his blue eyes-Klaus was a perfect picture of nonchalance with a flute of champagne dangling from his fingers.

'Did Camille try to push herself in your face again?' she asked with mock severity, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

'And what if she did, lovely Elena? Will you give her a dressing down because you're jealous?' The smirk on his lips was overtly familiar.

'Certainly, Nick. Didn't I tell you once before that you're prince among men?'

And together they laughed before she hurried off to the rest room. Her bladder was about to burst. There was a limit on the amount of champagne a girl could drink without turning French.

Camille was a pop-starlet who had her eyes set on Klaus from even before Elena was in the picture. She tried to entice Klaus on every occasion they met, and she had somewhat become the running joke between Klaus and Elena.

It was good to have something just two of them could laugh about.

Klaus had changed.

It had not been anything monumental, just a slight shift from the way he used to behave before. Now, his eyes lingered a bit more on her face, he stood a little closer to her in places like these and sang much more frequently when she requested. Had she not known him, she would have never noticed the change in him.

Now, he smiled a bit more freely.

She liked the changes in him. He was meant to be happy. He was meant to soar in light, not hide in shadows. Somehow, she didn't know why but she could tell that all he'd ever done in his life was to hide.

And then there was the menace that he radiated when Elijah Mikaelson was in vicinity.

She had never asked for that particular snippet from his history, but the dark hideous anger in his eyes was enough to tell that something had happened between them. Something that could never be corrected with apologies.

He would tell her when he was ready.

And one day she was sure, he would be ready to tell her the whole ugly story of what Elijah Mikaelson had done to him…

The scream never left her throat when she was dragged back into the shadows of the corridor. Elena was panicking before she caught that smell of sharp spice coming from her attacker.

She had only known one man who smelled like that; only man who'd ever mistaken her for a prostitute.

Elijah.

He turned her sharply in the circle of his arms, every inch of his body touching hers.

'You look lovely, Elena. The color suits you.' His voice was a husky memory, one that threatened to make her forget the time and place and lose herself in him. 'But then red looks much more exquisite on you, or say black. Black becomes you, Elena. It brings out your skin much more than this paltry blue.'

His lips were on the shell of her ears, his hands around her body making it hard to step away from him.

'Tell me, Elena. Do you enjoy when Klaus kisses you like you did with me?'

It was a cold slap.

One that she should have expected.

The mere insinuation that what she and Klaus shared was something common and cheap made her stomach roil in disgust and blood boil in her veins.

'And what if I did, Elijah,' she said harshly, her voice as cold as his rumored heart.

He let her go. The act was sudden, and she felt herself stumbling, wobbling on those sky high heels.

'Then you are the greatest fool, Elena,' he said as he took her hands to steady her on her feet. 'Nicklaus likes all things I like. He wants everything I want.'

'What do you want to say?' She snatched back her hand. The mere touch of his fingers on her palm had felt incendiary.

'I'm sure you're capable of working out that whole story from your precious Klaus.' He stepped closer, his breath falling on her open lips. 'Ask him why he decided to lavish his attentions on you, Elena. Ask him why he moved heaven and earth to make you the brightest star that shines in the world of music currently. And while you're doing that, do remember how it felt to be in my arms, lovely Elena,' he said as he pulled her in his body, his lips capturing hers with the single intent of showing her how much she affected him…

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