Once Upon a Time

Leaning against the wall beside the doors, Astra looked up at the full moon that hung in the black sky. No clouds obscured the view and let the stars shine bright around the glowing sphere. Astra closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as the wind danced through the trees around her home, brushing her skin in such a gentle caress. Pushing off the stone wall she stepped over to the railing and looked down at the darkened woods, the sounds of the animals moving around in the light that was provided for them reaching her ears. Pulling herself up onto the railing until she was leaning back against the wall with her legs keeping her steady on the banister, she let herself relax against the day's work.

She couldn't help but to smile as she thought back to the day, remembering how irritated Elijah had been getting with her. She had been working to search for the descendants of the witches, a brand new computer on the table before her. Elijah had been working on his own computer, also new, to try and find a way to track down Klaus. He had dropped off the radar again, seemingly vanishing into thin air, and leaving Elijah highly agitated.

Astra had done her best to avoid him until he calmed down after discovering that none of the other beings that he had employed of the years could find Klaus, then did her best to entertain him. She had irking him into annoyance until he ran her out the back door of the house, threatening to feed her to the wolves. She knew that he wasn't being serious, she could see the look in his eyes that hold her the truth. He was glad for the distraction.

She laughed softly to herself as she thought back to when she had begun to try and start a footsy war beneath the table with the Original, getting a glare from him in the process. She even went so far as to randomly sit on his lap and hang up the phone call that he had been on to Paris. He had actually growled at her that time before relenting and allowing her to take the phone from him.

He had demanded the damned thing back later on that day; to which she popped out the battery, tossed him the phone and dropped the life of the phone down the front of her blouse. He had actually looked to be considering on whether or not to go after it before diving at her.

"Just do it, I dare you," She said as she glared at the man across the space from her, her hands on her hips and the corner of the battery protruding from between her breasts. Elijah cocked his head slightly to the side as he looked down at the battery and her chest. She raised an eyebrow as she waited for his verdict. She shrieked in surprise when he dove at her, hand snatching for the battery.

She darted off like a scared mouse into the next room, hearing Elijah following after her in dead pursuit. She took the approach of a child and began to hide behind tables and other furniture, barely escaping from one room to the next before he was able to nab her. She screamed in joyful fright as her boots skidded across the hardwood flooring, nearly taking her to the ground. The battery ended up slipping down her shirt and into the hem of her jeans, the belt the only thing preventing it from going any lower.

"I did not plan this," She said as she held her hands up to him in surrender, his eyes falling on the bump at the base of her stomach. She wasn't able to react fast enough this time and was caught around the waist when she turned to run, Elijah's free hand tugging the hem of her shirt up and plucking the battery from against her hip.

"Never again, Astraea," He warned as he assembled the phone again.

"We really need to talk about your phone privileges, Elijah. Have you seen the bill you rack up?" Astra asked with mock authority in her voice. Elijah raised a single eyebrow at her, causing her to repeat the gesture when she was unable to fight the temptation.

Astra laughed softly at the memory from her perch on her railing, wishing that she could have that much fun with Elijah every day. Sadly, he was usually very focused on work and has gone as far as locking her in the basement to stop her from pestering him. When he releases her she's usually in too foul a mood to play with him anymore and disappears for days at a time, just to torture him in return because when she returns he's always in a fret about having her disappear for another century.

"You are a menace," Elijah said from the doorway to the balcony, his hands in his trouser pockets as he leaned against the frame. Astra smiled over at him as she giggled softly to herself, almost uncontrollable, before she looked away from him to the moon in the sky.

"I try."

"Too much, I say," He agreed, stepping over to her. "Come, enough excitement for one day." He held out his hand for her to take, waiting. She took one last deep inhale of the clean air before taking his offered hand and letting him assist her back onto her feet. The cold stone of the balcony was a shock to her bare skin, since she had already changed into her night clothes.

"Were you able to find him?" She inquired softly, closing the glass door behind her.

"No, he's disappeared again, completely this time."

Astra regarded Elijah from where he stood a couple of feet away from her, his eyes directed out toward the night. His hair was slicked back from the shower that he had recently had, the loose shirt and pants that he wore to bed hanging on his thin frame.

"Elijah," She started quietly, looking away from him for a moment. "There was something that I've been thinking about and I wanted to ask you," She began. Elijah looked away from the doors to where she was looking down at her floorboards. The braid that she had pulled her hand into fell over one shoulder, beginning to brush the strap of her shirt down. "About when I was human."

"I will answer to the best of my ability," He replied easily, moving over to her bed and sitting on the highest step. She moved over hesitantly and sat down on the step below his, licking her lips as she tried to think of a way to phrase her question. When an easy way didn't come to mind she decided that bluntness was the next best course of action.

"Were you negotiating with my father for us to be married?" She asked, looking up to him with curious violet eyes. Elijah huffed out a laugh as a small smile tugged at her lips, relieved. He was probably worried that she would want to speak about when he had attacked her or when they had first revealed all truths between one another.

"I was," Elijah admitted, looking down at her. Astra's face remained neutral, seemingly unsurprised. "It was to be finalized shortly after the date of your death," He continued on, watching her face carefully. She didn't react that the topic of her own death, already having come to terms with the even many centuries prior to the day.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about it?" She asked softly, "The only reason that I even have a hint of knowledge on it was because Carina had told her daughter of a rumour and she told me."

"I," He began quietly, before falling silent as he considered his words. She watched as his jaw tensed and his Adams apple bob when he swallowed. She looked back up to his eyes, caught by the emotion that was showing within them. "I was selfish," Elijah finally answered, looking away from her eyes. "It was so that I could keep you, something like a possession. I was thinking of myself."

"It's selfish to care for someone?" She asked softly, leaning her elbow on the step he sat on so that she was closer to him. "Now, that doesn't sound right."

"I was going to take you away from your family, I was not thinking of your wellbeing so much as the fact that you would be mine," Elijah elaborated, bending over to be closer to her as well, his face nearing hers. "Once I had you, I was not going to let you do, Astraea."

"I still see no reason for why that is selfish, Elijah. Do you forget the numerous times that I wanted to leave my own family behind. I would have missed them, I knew, but I wanted my freedom from them. I didn't want to be the daughter of a wealthy man anymore, I just wanted to be a Roman woman that was looking for someone to be with, someone that I could give my heart to." Elijah held her eyes as he thought over her words, his hand moving to play with the smoothness of her braid. "How can you have been selfish when it was my wish as well?"

"You may have your opinion, and I will have mine, Astraea," Elijah mumbled as he lifted his hand from the braid of her hair to the smooth skin of her cheek, "But you remember how angered you were with me for taking you away from your family in the end."

"I was a new born vampire, Elijah!" She pressed, looking exasperated. "My emotions were a complete wreck at the time, I would have been angry at you no matter what." She leaned into his hand against her will, the movement complete instinct by that point. "You were my first love, true, but that didn't mean there weren't moments when I wanted to rip your head off in a fit of rage."

"I remember those moments," Elijah teased carefully, watching as she glared in mock anger at him. "I distinctly remember one time when I confined you to the boat and-"

"I pushed you over the side in retaliation?" She finished, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him. "Ah, yes, fond memories. Would you like to try it again sometime?" Elijah gave her a blank stare in response, getting a heart filled laugh from the woman in return.

"Maybe a reverse in roles is necessary?" He offered, causing her to try and stop laughing and resulting in a snort. Elijah continued to hold her with a serious stare that only made her laugh harder, leaning back against her bed. All seriousness from the previous topic of conversation had evaporated away, leaving Elijah with a lighter feel about himself. He had been hiding that small bit of information from her for fifteen hundred plus years and it was pleasant not to have that as a burden anymore.

Astra rose with the sun the next morning, smiling to herself when she heard that Elijah was yet to wake. She slipped out of her bed and across her room silently, pleased when her door made nearly no sound as she was opening it, before darting down the hall to Elijah's room. His door luckily made no sound, allowing her to slip into the darkened room with ease. He had drawn his curtains all the way closed to keep out the rising sun in the morning, but a crack in the center allowed a stream of light to fall in a line across the center of the room.

Astra grinned to herself as she stepped quietly up to the bed, inspecting Elijah as she did. He slept without a shirt on, she noticed immediately, and preferred sleeping on his back. His face was turned away from her on the pillow, his arms stretched up with most of his forearms buried beneath the pillow that his head was resting on. He had rolled the comforter down to the end of the bed so he was left with only the thick Egyptian cotton sheets.

She couldn't stop herself from inspecting the muscle tone that was visible to her eyes; she was used to Elijah always wearing something to cover it up. Even when he wasn't expected to meet anyone that day, spending it inside, he still wore his suit pants and a dress shirt of some kind. She found herself privileged to be looking at his torso in all its naked glory. Why the man hid it away she didn't know, there was plenty to be proud of. His chest and shoulders were broad and defined, his stomach covered with abs but not to the point of overbearing, and his arms were coated with the perfect amount of muscle that she could already see even when he wasn't truly flexing.

Stepping up onto the edge of the bed carefully, the blonde woman crept along the sinking mattress until she was standing with a leg on either side of his hips and lowered herself down to her knees. Elijah didn't stir as she hovered over him, careful not to actually touch him. She made sure that her braid was pulled back so it didn't hang over her shoulder and leaned down to his exposed neck, the tendons standing out against his skin. She took a moment to inhale his scent, strongest from his neck, before she opened her mouth and gently bit down on the skin, gentle enough not to draw blood.

Elijah woke with a jerk from the soft bite, Astra reacting faster than him and catching his hands before they could grab at her. She smiled against his skin and laved her tongue over where she had just bitten, feeling his muscles seize at the feeling. Burying her face further into his neck, she inhaled again, smelling the soap that he had used to wash his hair the night before.

"Astraea," Elijah warned quietly, not truly doing anything to try and stop her.

"Yes?" She asked back innocently, nipping at the tender skin behind his ear.

"When did you last feed? And I do not mean blooded wine," Elijah asked as he tipped his head in her direction to cut her off. She pulled back with a mock pout on her lips, trying to think back.

"I don't know, it was before we came to Mystic Falls," She finally admitted, leaning down until she was stretched out languidly on his chest and stomach, "Care to donate?" Elijah gave her a warning look, to which she simply could not take seriously with his hair as messed up as it was. She leaned on her elbows to run her fingers through his hair, fixing it to the best of her ability. "I'll go find something tonight, how about that?"

"Acceptable," Elijah agreed, letting her play with his hair. He knew that she was just using the fixing as an excuse to touch it, her fingers running through the smooth stands. She smiled lazily as the strands caressed her fingers, sliding between her digits like silk. Elijah watched her face as she became calm, her overzealous attitude from waking before him dissipating with the time that she spent tending to his hair. Her own was beginning to fall loose from her braid in certain places, tendrils of hair falling down around her face.

I know it's been a while since I've update this story, and I apologize for that but I've have a lot of things I've been working on. I just posted a new story for the Walking Dead and that's been holding my attention a lot so I decided that it's only fair to update this story as well!