"Is this why Damon's acting so different lately?" Bonnie asked Stefan.

"Yeah. I think the whole thing with her liking Elijah and now finding out that she's a werewolf and Klaus wanting to kill her . . . It's made him realize how he feels for her."

Damon was tense, as was Araya.

". . . I think he's in love with her."

Araya bolted for her motorcycle.

And he let her go for lack of anything to say.

Araya sat at the bar of the Grille, wishing that someone would buy her some bourbon, actually any drink would do. So Damon thought he loved her and Elijah did love her, even if they had only been together for a short time. She knew Damon just had to be confused about his feelings. He was just confused because he felt bad about how Raya would be dying in two weeks. Pity just had to be mistaken for romantic feelings. She knew for sure that she didn't love Damon romantically. He was a friend, a friend that really got on her nerves and made her want to scream, but nonetheless a friend. And Elijah . . . Elijah was truthful, an honest, noble man. She liked him a lot, maybe more than like, but the last time she was in love with a man, well, let's say nothing turned out well.

She felt a hand touch her arm and she knew immediately who it was.

"Hi."

"Hello. How did your friends take it?"

"Can we just go home?"

"Which place are you considering home?"

"Yours, if your liquor cabinet is sufficient."

"What's wrong?" Elijah's voice was weighted with worry. He worried too much for Araya's liking.

"Nothing to worry about."

"You will tell me."

"It'll probably come out if I get the right amount of booziness."

"As if I would let you get drunk."

Elijah's house was more like a mansion than a house. She had been there multiple times and it never failed to shock her with its size and beauty. It was classy, elegant, and very expensive. It lay fifteen miles east of Mystic Falls. She had taken over half of the dresser for nights that she stayed over, which was nearly every night, except for the two he was staked in the cellar of the boarding house. The house seemed too businesslike. She didn't receive that homey feel like she thought someone should, for example, Elena's house: Elena's house felt like home with burnt toast and coffee. She had a comfy living room and a big TV. Elijah's house was a little dull in the home department, but it was beautiful.

Raya made her way up the white and black staircase, stopping at the top to see where Elijah had gone. She sighed. He was probably making sure that his liquor cabinet was locked up. He had some strange thing about her drinking. He absolutely refused to let her drink for an unknown reason that was beginning to piss her off. It wasn't like she was going to be a drunk from noon 'til night. She wouldn't die from one drink every now and then.

He appeared next to her on the stairs.

"Did you seriously just go lock up all of the alcohol?"

"Yes."

"I wasn't going to get drunk."

"And I wasn't going to let you drink at all."

She wasn't at all surprised, but she felt the need for a comeback. The only comebacks had to do with age and they seemed very superficial to her. Araya tried not to be overly superficial about much.

"Just a little something? I want to at least try to rid myself of a few worries."

Elijah grabbed her hand softly and pulled her to him. Suddenly they were sitting on the old Victorian styled couch. "What do you have to worry about?"

"Damon Salvatore thinking he's in love with me. Elena, Bonnie, Stefan, Caroline, Tyler, Jeremy and everyone else. Then I'm going to die with my best friend so we can break your brother's curse, so you can try and kill him. Then I have to worry about you from the other side. Will you kill him? Will he sway you into leaving us all behind alone?"

"You won't be dying."

"What?"

"Klaus will not kill you. I won't allow it."

"Not to damage you're masculinity, but Klaus . . . he's the oldest, he's stronger and faster, and part werewolf. He may not be able to change, but he's still strong, really strong from that repressed side of him."

"What do you mean?"

"I know. I know what it's like to have a beast locked up inside of you. I was always stronger and faster—not that I used it much—but I remember how it felt. I was stronger than everyone else and when I asked Tyler, he said the same thing. It was more on full moons and minimal any other time. This was before we had broken the curse. What makes this curse so much different? Nothing. You can't shut off the extra strength and senses with anything. So, what I'm saying is with his being the oldest vampire in history, part werewolf . . . it makes him stronger than you . . . Plus, he's not vulnerable because he doesn't care about anything but this stupid curse and you care about me . . . and your family."

"You're afraid I'll be distracted and at risk of letting him kill me instead." He kissed her cheek softly. "I want Klaus to be dead. He should—'Stupid curse'? What is stupid about this? Klaus is going to kill Elena, you, and who knows who else! How is him creating a new race of half vampire, half werewolf hybrids stupid? Explain to me how this, something so large and bloodthirsty it could kill off countless humans, and entirely wipe out any werewolves like you, is stupid!"

"Elijah, I can see where he's coming from . . . You won't understand since you don't have the werewolf gene, but being strong, letting that beast that rips and fights its way out of your body once a month is torture. If I could change whenever I wanted . . . It would be amazing." She sighed. "But I'm going to die and so will Elena, plus some unknown vampire. And I know he'll do bad things and kill people with his army. I know it's wrong and that's why I'm not going to hel—"

"You are helping him! You're letting him kill you. You offered yourself to him."

"Klaus kills me, the vampire, and then Elena. When he's turning, you kill him." She stared at the tile floor. "Tyler might come back into town soon, to spend the full moon with me. I tried to tell him not to come, but he won't listen to me. Elijah, I'm allowed to die and he isn't. Tyler deserves a good life. He deserves a wife and kids, a life. "

"Why don't you?"

Araya's lips spread into a thin line and her lips locked shut. She couldn't tell him and see the difference in his eyes when he looked at her. "I just don't."

"I—"

"Shhh."

She lay on his chest listening to the sound of nothing. Her eyes closed slowly and she drifted off to sleep. Elijah, however, was wide awake. He didn't know how he would keep Klaus from getting her, but he would. His brother liked to cause trouble and make ripples in once calm water. Elijah needed to lure another werewolf into town. As much as he would be okay with the Lockwood boy being killed, Araya would not forgive him for that.

One good thing about wolves is that they travel in packs.

This is one of my least favorite chapters, so I'll give you an extra one! Thank you for reading!
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