She meets him in her room, and he looks intrigued. Or bored. She can never tell what his eyes are expressing without looking at the rest of his face. He's so guarded, all the time.
"What does this new deal entail?" He inquires and she takes a deep breath and explains.
"You want to interview me?" He's amused, she realizes by the tone in his voice.
She nods.
His brother is going to kill her in a few weeks, by the time the school newspaper comes out. He might as well solidify his existence as Elijah Smith since he's going to be in Mystic Falls a little while longer.
He agrees.
Her entire body seems to relax, she hadn't realized she was so tense.
He does add, in the same quiet voice he had used to agree, that he does have one condition. Her eyes widen slightly, and he tells her that when she's done, he does want a copy of the newspaper that contains whatever she writes about him. She relaxes again, and they arrange to meet the next day to do the interview. Before he leaves, she asks.
She's surprised he hadn't mentioned it first, perhaps he had thought to bring it up later. She asks what he wants in return, what his price is. He's already helping her protect her loved ones. All she has to give him is her life, be the willing sacrifice. She doesn't know what the next words will be out of his mouth.
"It's free." He says and for the first time, she doesn't believe him.
It's interesting to see her expression change, she's such an open book to him.
A few questions, a few dozen words uttered and perhaps a half hour of an interview, the cost for him to gain more trust, for more of her belief in him. It's a worthy exchange, he thinks.
Elena had been shoved into the supernatural world at a young age, but she had tried to play the game well. If she survives, she knows there's a chance the elixir won't work, he wants to continue to be her ally.
She looks so much like Tatia and Katerina, he had thought for a few seconds that they were all similar. She had blown that theory away, let him wonder almost blindly what he had miscalculated as she spoke. Even now, she reminds him of the stark differences between the three of them.
They all have something in common, he thinks privately, other than just their looks.
They had all just been trying to survive. The previous two had died because of their involvement with his family, and she would too.
"Why?" She looks at him like she's trying to translate a language she barely knows, and he just tells her that she is already going to die. There's no point in being petty over thirty minutes of his time.
Others have paid highly for such an amount, but she is already paying with her highly valuable life. It evens out. He doesn't mention that, and she has other things to think about.
He hears her aunt's car in the driveway, and tells her he'll see her the next day.