Author's Drabble: Hello lovely readers and supporters of this story. Thank you to all the continuing support and the recent favourite-ings etc. I appreciate it. You're all so very wonderful :D.

Enjoy!

CHAP 16:

Disturbed from sleep and instantly disorientated by movement, I panicked and broke out into a frantic struggle. It's not over.

"Easy. It's okay. Elena, it's Elijah." His deep voice soothed gently as he kept moving. I stopped wriggling as I recognised his scent and acknowledged the feeling of him as he carried me. "Sorry for waking you." He apologised.

"What's going on?" I asked sleepily.

"We're leaving. I was just moving you to the car."

"What time is it?" I asked. Noting we were moving up the hallway towards our bedroom. Lingering fear woke me up further and I became more alert.

"It's just after three am. You've only slept for an hour. Just relax. You should go back to sleep. We have quite a drive ahead of us." Now awake, I realised how revolting I felt. Like I was covered in a thick layer of grime. No, like I was covered in Klaus. He was all over me still. Touching me, breathing on me. Looking at me hungrily. But Elijah's warm voice put me at ease. As if being near me cleansed any contact Klaus had made with my body. God I was glad he was alive. And not just because he'd saved me. I moved a little in his arms.

"Can you put me down please? I'd like to walk. I'm awake now." Without answer Elijah gently placed me down on my feet. As my legs took my weight I felt stiff and sore through my hips and in a few different places down my legs. Ignoring them, I walked after Elijah through the bedroom door. Klaus. Just the sight of Klaus' still body over against the wall sent a jolt of fear through me. I must have paused mid-step, for Elijah placed his hand gently on the small of my back coaxing me forward. I cringed a little at the tenderness I felt from just the slightest touch of his hand. Am I not completely healed?

"Is he dead?" I asked. Nothing that while Elijah had his hand on my back the rest of him was a metre away from me.

"Temporarily." Elijah' replied bluntly.

"What does that mean?" I walked over and stopped in front of Klaus' body. Elijah's hand left my back and he stayed where I'd left him.

"His heart is in a small box made of wood. By separating it heart from his body. It will leave him indisposed for a time. But either by the hands of his followers, or by his soul. His heart will at some stage become reunited with his body and he will continue to exist. I intend to put his boxed heart in the post and distance it further from Klaus and you."

"I know that originals are incredible powerful. But if the soul is able to reunite the heart with the body. That's just mind-blowing." I said in awe, while trying not to let how frightening that all sounded tone my voice. "How long would it take?" I asked still looking at Klaus' still form.

"For his soul to draw his heart back into his body? It varies. Can be within a day. Could take longer. It depends on the method used. One way would be for Klaus' soul to possess someone who comes across the heart, who will then travel with the heart to where his body is. That is the most convenient method. Because when Klaus awakens he will have food immediately available."

"Can you do that?" I enquired softly.

"Yes." Elijah replied as if the acknowledgement left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Good." I said strongly in relief. "Uh, why are we in the bedroom if we're going to the car?" I turned to him while looking around the bedroom confused. When we made eye contact I had to stop myself from jumping out of my skin. Elijah looked so cold and detached. It was scarier than the day Jonas had visited. I looked at him worriedly but he broke our connected gazes and turned away from me to walk into the walk-in-robe. Curiously I followed him at a hesitant pace.

"Come." He extended his arm to me as he invited me to come closer to where he was standing. Cautiously I walked to stand in front of him. "Closer." He asked when I stopped a metre from him. I moved another step forward. I tried not to look uncomfortable beneath his cold staring gaze, but it was very difficult. "That's fine." He interrupted. Halting me as I began to take another step closer, which would have left us nearly touching. I couldn't help feeling a little rejected by him.

Elijah pulled a remote from his pocket and I heard a singular soft tone. The ground moved beneath us and I made to step backwards. But Elijah stepped closer to me and curved his arm around my lower back to keep me on the now moving section of circular floor. I stiffened when his light contact caused some more slight pain and I saw him fight to keep his hand at my back. For a moment I thought he was going to fling his arm away. Like my reaction burnt him. We began to sink down impossibly underground. The house is ground level so it seemed bizarre for there to be anything structural below it. Apart from soil. After a slow start the dropping section of floor increased it's speed and stopped, surrounded by suffocating darkness. I looked up to see a circular light about two stories above us. Assuming that was where we'd dropped from I didn't know whether to be impressed or suspicious. How many houses would have such a deep underground section? After a few moments soft light filtered through the underground area. Before Elijah gently pressed his hand that had remained on my back during the drop, asking me to move forward onto another section of flooring. Once off, he sent the moving section of floor back upwards to fill the hole of light above. I watched it with my lips parted until it filled in the circle of light. I cleared my throat gently and turned to Elijah.

"Is this how you came and went yesterday and the other time you left me home?" Since when did this place become my home? Elijah nodded. The lighting wasn't intense down here so I couldn't see Elijah's face properly. But he still seemed off. It was more than the coldness I'd seen in his eyes moments before. "No one would know all this is down here." I commented looking around me. I heard another tone and the lighting brightened.

With more light I saw we were in a mostly concrete room of some sort. While it had the conventional four walls. Two parallel walls had two huge archways in them which looked like they might lead off into tunnels or perhaps other chambers like this one. We were standing up on a raised area that ran right to the wall closest to us, kind of like a stage. Where a sink and cabinets were set over against the wall as well as a fridge. Elijah must have pressed his remote again because I heard it's tone which resulted in lighting up a section of the room to reveal a black car. Elijah crossed to it and opened a back door to rummage through something. I returned to looking about the room. There were two other large objects in the darkness near the black car. I nearly didn't notice them except for the slight reflection of light on their surfaces. I assumed they were also vehicles and slowly wandered over to them. Why would someone keep their cars in such a hidden underground garage?

"You know." I began softly in retrospect. "Yesterday, I felt when you'd come home. I looked around from icing the cake and couldn't see you. So thought I was just being silly. But then you were in the house five minutes later." I gestured to the room despite Elijah not looking at me. "Obviously, you were home." I commented. Elijah's silence felt awkward. My pondering didn't really need a response from him. But I was surprised he didn't reinforce our connection. I knew I'd felt him because of our connection. I'd felt him arrive when he'd stopped Klaus. Even if he didn't have anything to say about it. I expected him to be happy about it. Smile perhaps. But there was nothing. I even looked back to see any reaction from him. But he was still bent over as if looking for something in the car. Frowning I continued into the darkness. Weird.

When I reached the two objects I saw one was a bike. But it was extremely bulky. It took me a long moment to even decide on it being a bike, as the only indication in the dim light was it's two wheels. I moved around the bike to see the larger blacked out shape, to discover it was another car. It's body was very individual and extravagantly contoured. In the dark I felt along the panels that arced out from the back of the car and could see that the overall shape was extremely streamlined. There really wasn't room for more than one person inside. Walking around the car and standing between the two arced out contoured sections. It was obvious from the back that this was not your average car. There was something recognisable about this vehicle. It was starting to look like something from a-. Batman movie? No. I realised that this vehicle was exactly what it looked like. I walked around it quickly. Even in the dim light I was sure. It looked like a batmobile. I watched the batman movies. And I know the style of batmobile changed throughout. But this was a bat mobile. I giggled to myself, taking in this before me. It would be amazing to see it illuminated. I wondered if the bike was also batman-related and walked back over to it. Nearly knocking my knee on a big spoke that came out from the front of the bike. From The Dark Knight. I literally laughed out loud then. Elijah appeared next to me, still keeping a few metres between us. I jumped and stumbled away from him, before realising it was just him. I continued to laugh softly, almost breathlessly while he stood watching me with concern.

"Sorry for startling you." Came Elijah's murmur.

"It's fine." Lights lit up the two Batman-looking vehicles. Showing me that my suspicions were right. The bike was from The Dark Knight and the car a type of Batmobile. I couldn't have placed what movie, or movies it was used in. But I had definitely seen it before. Which made me laugh more. "Wow. Are these-." I paused and dropped my voice before continuing."Were these Michael's?" Looking at him tentatively.

"Yes. You'll remember I've referred to him as eccentric? Well, he was extremely fond of the batman character." His tone sombre.

"Mmm." I turned to look at the two vehicles again. "Are they the props from the movies? Or did he get replica's made?"

"Replica's. While Michael was wealthy and liked to spend his money on some extravagant items. He wouldn't draw attention to himself by purchasing famous movie props or famous collector's items." I stepped toward him and noticed him tense up immediately.

"Are-. Are you alright?" I queried. It was really a question with a double meaning. He was behaving oddly, but he'd just lost a dear friend. He chose to answer with regards to Michael.

"Yes. It is a relief really." He sighed. "I can only hope that he didn't suffer. But in all reality, his mental suffering has now ended. One can take refuge in the comforts of death." He said comfortably. The grief for his loss was evident. But he appeared to be downplaying it. I looked at him with sceptical concern. Something else was bothering him.

"Here." He brought his hand up with my toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste in his hand. "I thought you might like to brush your teeth. Or, just your mouth in general before we leave." He said with a grim shadow of a smile. My stomach flipped and I flung my left hand up to cover my mouth and took the toothbrush and paste from him. Before practically bolting over to the sink and visibly shaking as I went to work. I couldn't get my mouth clean soon enough. The taste in my mouth wasn't pleasant. But I hadn't thought about why it was so horrid until now. It wasn't like I'd forgotten what had happened while finding out about what's beneath the house. I suppose I'd been distracted by Elijah. My head really wasn't on straight right now. His changed behaviour was bothering me, as he seemed to be purposefully keeping me at a distance. Maybe he didn't want to crowd me. I was on the verge of hyperventilating as I brushed my tongue vigorously. Once satisfied with the overall minty freshness of my mouth I rinsed with the glass of water Elijah offered me. Before pausing to lean against the sink on my forearms wondering if I was going to vomit. I felt so disgusting. Klaus was still crawling all over my skin. It was like I was drowning in filth. I closed my eyes and hung my head trying to calm myself and steadied my breathing. I heard water running and opened my eyes to see Elijah's hands in front of me, soaking a hand towel and rubbing a bar of soap into it. He then placed it in my hands.

"I don't wish to be insensitive. But we need to leave shortly." He said stiffly. "Regardless of whether you're feeling up to it or not, I'm afraid." I frowned. There was nothing wrong with what he'd said. But it was the way he'd said it. He'd never spoken to me so detached. It was like he was a stranger and there was nothing between us. Except that he wasn't any longer. Everything about him seemed like a blank canvas. Elijah was shutting me out.

I stood up and started wiping my face with the towel. There wasn't a mirror so I had only the gradually reducing dry scratchings of crusted blood, to guide me on how clean my face was. Feeling a little refreshed I cleaned down the front of my neck. Then cleaned the sides and the back as I tried to ignore how sore it was to touch. That will have to do. I turned to Elijah

"Thank you." I sighed. His eyes dropped to my cleaned neck and revealed the icy cold fury that swirled beneath his masked exterior. Unconsciously I brought my hand up to my neck to stroke the skin, feeling for bite marks. There were no open wounds. Bruising maybe? I didn't know why else Elijah's eyes would have betrayed him so suddenly.

"I'll take that for you." He indicated the towel in my hands before taking it from me. I nodded and gave him a small smile. "Ready to leave?" I nodded.

"I don't suppose we're taking the mobile, or the bike?" I asked, stupidly hopeful yet disappointed. Please pick up on the humour Elijah.

"No. That wouldn't be particularly inconspicuous." Came his slightly humoured response.

"Bummer."

"Indeed." He gestured with his hand for me to head to the car. Which I did as he followed. I paused and looked over once at the two machines that lifted some of the weight of Klaus' visit. Holding the car door open for me Elijah turned the lights off on the batman replica's and the other areas of the chamber. Plunging us into darkness except for the interior light of the car.

Before stepping into the car a smile stretched across my face in realisation.

"We're in a Batcave," I looked at Elijah before continuing. "And I'm in the company of a vampire." I laughed. "How Dracula, for a vampire to have an association with bats." I tried to stifle a laugh but it came out anyway. Warmth spread onto Elijah's face and into his eyes as he joined me in my moment of humour. It was nothing like his usual warmth, but it was certainly an improvement. As I stepped into the front passenger seat, my robe rode up my thighs a little, revealing brilliant bruising on the inside of my thighs. I nearly froze at the sight but made myself follow through my movements and sit in the car. Deep purple and black circles of skin leered at me on each leg. Running my fingers softly over my darkened flesh, I pressed my fingers into the offensive marks while I looked on dumbly. Stopping before I made myself hiss in pain. Ouch. Apparently I was healed but still bruised. They felt like welts. Actually swollen as well as coloured. I jerked my head towards Elijah with a shocked and enquiring expression on my face.

"My blood, in addition to Klaus' healed you. However, with the extent of your injuries. You will still be tender, and you'll experience the different stages of bruising. But it will resolve very quickly. It's a similar situation to when vampire's heal from wounds. The severe, or rather, life threatening damage is healed first." Elijah explained almost pathetically. Almost. Though he tried hard to keep his tone flat. I nodded my head.

"I was in a pretty bad way." I conceded solemnly and looked down again, covering the bruises with the the robe's skirt. Suddenly the car door shut a little too loudly and I jumped. It was immediately obvious.

I was why Elijah was acting so strange. Not me in specifically. But what had happened. There must be bruising on my neck as well for Elijah to have looked at it so furiously. When he sat in the driver's seat the minimal warmth that had leached into him was gone. He was all stealth. Severe and silent as he referred back to shutting me out. It was stupid but I felt personally hurt by his behaviour. I know he wasn't acting this way because of something I'd done. Yet, I felt like he was associating me with Klaus. He couldn't regard me with anything more than anger at the moment. Hell, every time he looked at me and saw bruising, he was seeing Klaus. I felt he was doing the best he could by trying not to let me see how Klaus affected him. That he was related to someone so I'm the direct victim, I couldn't consider myself the only one in this. Elijah was in such a difficult situation. I understood from my new found knowledge, why he wouldn't let me be sacrificed. He'd lose me. But he'd also loose his brother for good. The only family member he had left, yet the same person who had taken the rest of his family from him. I don't know if I could kill Jeremy if we were in the same situation.

The silence in the car was thick and heavy. I wanted to say something. But Elijah seemed impenetrable. He started up the car and drove it through one of the arcs into a tunnel.

"Is this tunnel all Michaels' doing as well?" I asked tentatively after Elijah'd driven a couple of kilometres. He didn't answer me. I thought he wasn't going to and turned my head away from him to look at nothing in particular out the window. It was all very drab. Just concrete walls and ceiling. Not that it wasn't impressive. There just wasn't anything that I could focus on instead of being reminded of Klaus by my unyielding nausea. Eventually Elijah answered me.

"Yes, there is a network of them down here. All constructed by Michael. Not personally of course. I'm not sure other land holders even know about the tunnels that run under their properties. With Michael's wealth, came possibilities." I turned my head away from the window to look at Elijah. His hands were very tense on the steering wheel and he appeared unnaturally rigid sitting in the drivers seat. Though I could really only see the side of his face, he'd lost his blank shielded look and seemed almost like he was debating something.

"Elijah?" I queried gently. "What happened to you? When-." I broke off. "Did his witches attack you?" He sighed and some of the tension appeared to leave his body. I had a feeling it was for show though.

"One of Klaus' warlocks did. Only the particular warlock had been working with me."

"Jonas?"

"Yes. It's not unsurprising. However it is out of character for him. He knows of the activities Klaus partakes in for entertainment. He has told me on more than one occasion that while he is desperate to free his daughter. Handing you over to Klaus for him to use and abuse you as he sees fit. Would cause him just as much torment as he suffers in the absence of his daughter." Elijah said smoothly despite the tension in his jaw that told of him gritting his teeth. So he's angry at Jonas.

"He betrayed you." I said sadly. "And himself." Elijah turned his head to look at me, eerily steering the car around a bend at the same time.

"Yes. He did." We continued to look at each other and my heart ached for him. He really wasn't that concerned about Jonas' choice and role in the night's events. He didn't care what actions others took. All Elijah cared about was me. It was incredibly stirring now that I'd realised how much I felt for him. Clearing his throat he looked as if at a loss for words, or that he simply couldn't voice what he was trying to. "Are-? I mean to ask. How-?" He stopped impatiently. I'd never heard his communication so disconnected and awkward. Elijah was usually so eloquent. Reaching my arm out I placed my hand over the top of his as it sat on the gear stick, giving him a grateful smile. He resigned himself a little ashamedly before speaking again. "I'm curious as to how you're coping. But there is no suitable way for me to ask that of you." He frowned. I laughed harshly.

"Yeah. Are you okay? Does come across a tad ignorant."

"My view exactly."

"I'm coping." I said slowly and nodded as I broke our joined gaze.

"You know you can-. Only if you're comfortable-." He almost babbled hurriedly. I squeezed his hand lightly and looked back at him.

"I know." I smiled at him again. "I'm here for you too. If you'd like to talk? Though I understand you'd like to keep to yourself right now." Something broke behind his moulded facial features. It was the most minute change in his demeanour. His eyes momentarily searched my own and he found some thing hoped for, yet unexpected. Yes Elijah, I care about you. But he quickly covered it up and his anger redoubled.

After fifteen minutes of driving through the tunnel we surfaced into the still dark hours of early morning. I watched us pass the world by until the slightest glow against the horizon told of the sun's imminent arrival in an hour or so's time. Adjusting my seat to lean back far enough to touch the back seat I lay back and drifted off. It was with relief and surprise that I didn't see Klaus when I closed my eyes.