Forever in Motion
Chicago, Illinois, 1864
Astra sat, complacent at last, as Annabel sat beside her with her eyes shifting nervously over to where Elijah was sitting across from them. Deciding to take the train, Astra had been silent since he had healed her the night before, greeting Annabel with a quiet embrace and a careful check to make sure that the long-time friend of hers had suffered no further damage and her blood had healed her completely.
"Where will we be going, now?"
"Italy," Elijah answered as he glanced up at Annabel, seeing that she had taken an almost protective seat next to Astra. He looked up into her eyes, seeing that she was silently daring him to move. A human with such spirit, even more so than Astra had had when she was a human woman living in Rome. There was a deep connection between the two that had been growing for years. Annabel was clearly not new to Astra as a vampire.
The amethyst eyed woman in question was gazing out the window at the moving scenery, acting as though she couldn't hear the conversation going on around her. There was no expression on her face, but there was a war within her. She was thinking about Damon. The man that she had left behind, the one that Annabel had told her was now a vampire. Katherine's doing, no doubt. Had she turned Stefan as well? Her heart ached at the thought of the brothers; one was her love and the other someone she held dear to her heart as a friend, a brother.
"Astra, please, say something," Annabel requested quietly as she took her mistresses hand in hers gently, feeling the warmth of her skin but the limpness of her fingers. Astra didn't react, and Annabel sighed softly before she released her hand but did not move from her side. Her life and her mistress's life had just become very confusing and she couldn't blame the woman for receding into her mind for some peace.
She had done it in the past and there were far worse coping mechanisms that she could have.
Glancing back over to Elijah, the vampire that had changed her mistress and saved her life while ending it, Annabel could feel the power that poured from him—not only as an Original Vampire but as a man. Whether it be from money or the life that had had led so far, someone that had seen so much in his years, Elijah was someone that possess an aura that told those around him not to rile the man. The dark eyes that watched her in return made her feel as though she was staring into an abyss of secrets.
As night drew in and the cabins of the train darkened alongside the country they rode through, Annabel moved to a free seat to stretch out for sleep as Elijah watched over Astra. The maid—and friend—was reluctant to leave the other woman's side, but she also knew that she could stand no chance against the Original Vampire.
"It upsets you," Elijah began when he heard Annabel's heart and breathing slow with sleep, leaving him 'along' with Astra. "That the lover you kept was changed by Katarina."
"He was not my lover," Astra admitted quietly. "He was my fiancé and had once been a gentleman. It seems that Katarina brings out the scandal in everyone, yes?" her eyes met Elijah with clear challenge. Her words struck a cord and he frowned deeply, knowing the jab cut more deeply than she could fully understand. "Then again, it's more the power of the doppelgänger than that of Katarina herself."
"You know not of what you speak," Elijah accused, but she just offered a fake, sultry smile and turned her eyes back to the window, watching the last wisps of sunlight colour the distant clouds.
Laughing mockingly, Azura smiled but there was a darkness to it that revealed the predatory actions of her kind. "Come now, Elijah, do not be shy. Boast of your successes of catching the heart of another doppelgänger. One-up your brother." He moved across the space between them, getting into her face once more. Astra didn't flinch away and met his stare head on, her strange coloured eyes boring into him with a hatred that he had thought to be gone already. "Back away from me," she finally hissed out, but Elijah would not do as he was bid and only shifted closer.
"Do you fear me, Astraea?"
The female vampire's hand snapped out and wrapped around his neck tightly, pushing back until their positions were reversed. "I am not the one who should fear."
"You have grown vicious over the years," Elijah almost teased. Letting her face change, she barred her fangs at him as her eyes bled a threatening red, rimming around the violet like poison. Elijah had always found it interesting to see the clash of colours. Had this drawn her to Damon? His icy blue eyes someday surrounded by red?
"I can be far worse, should you wish to provoke me further," she growled out, before she roughly pushed him back and resumed her seat. The red faded from her eyes and her fangs disappeared behind her lips, allowing her to fall back into the façade of a simple human woman travelling with a husband and hand-maid.
Adjusting her skirts and angling her body, Astra was soon facing her side toward Elijah as her eyes continued to gaze out into the black of the night. She could see her reflection faintly in the glass, part of Elijah's visible as well but not daring to draw her eyes to it for too long. She could stay in the position all night if need be; knowing Elijah, neither of the Vampires would be sleeping that night. Most likely, they would hold a silent battle of wills, refusing to show any form of weakness to the other even it was something as simple as the need to rest for the night.
Strange, that they were creatures of the night and yet the still needed sleep. A rest in unconsciousness occurring during the hours in which they were free to roam.
Astra was not concerned, however, because her mind was racing and there was no chance that it was going to stop for some time. Where was Elijah's siblings? Where would Damon and Stefan leave to, surely not staying in Mystic Falls? Where was Katherine now? Her mind raced over all that was happening in the present, what she had missed in the past and things that were very possibly going to happen in the near future.
Closing her amethyst eyes, the vampire tried to press back a headache even as her heart continued to break.
Roman Empire, Stabiae, 78 A.D.
Once they small group was back inside the Inn, Astraea curled herself up on her bed as she tried to stop her body from shaking. Elijah sat on the edge of the bed as he gently soothed her with hushing sounds and his fingers raking through her hair slowly. The blonde curls fell along the pillow and blankets, her amethyst eyes blinking slowly as she tried to comprehend her own situation. She stared blankly ahead at the wall across from her, unhearing and unseeing.
"What could be causing this?" Rebekah asked first, her hands fisting and un-fisting in concern. For Astraea to openly admit that she had wanted the man's blood stuck a cord in all of the siblings, but Elijah reacted first and immediately whisked her back to their room before anyone was put in danger.
"It must be because of our blood," he concluded, pushing a curl of golden hair behind Astraea's ear with no response. "She had so much of it when she was human, it must have caused some kind of effect with her blood. It…changed her."
Even if Astraea tried to follow what they were saying, but they were speaking in fast, dizzying English. Closing her eyes to block out as much as she could, the Roman woman just did her best to ignore the fast language that she had not had enough time to practice and study. Elijah had been assisting her with practicing the complicated language, but they usually spoke in well-rehearsed Latin.
"What is wrong with me?" she finally asked in a weak voice, not looking toward any of them and instead choosing to look forward at the cracking plaster that covered the far wall.
"We are not sure as of yet, but we will find out, Astraea. I promise you," Elijah tried to assure as he leant down to press his forehead against her temple, hoping that the gesture brought her some form of comfort. Her hand sought his, fingers still trembling, and clasped on painfully tight. Elijah motioned for his siblings to leave, getting a reluctant nod from his sister before she pulled Nicklaus from the room after her.
"Am I going to die again?" Astraea asked as her eyes began to gloss with tears, the coil of fear that had been tightening in her chest becoming painfully overbearing. "And do not lie to me in attempts to keep me protected, Elijah."
"I know not what will happen to you," he sighed out in honesty, the warmth of his breath blowing along her cheekbone. "What if you were to be like me, Astraea? Immortal, eternal. A monster."
"I…" she couldn't bring herself to say more, because she didn't know how to answer him. To be like him would mean the ability to stay at his side past the meagre life that she was leading, a human life. "There is much to think about before I can answer that," she finally finished, knowing that her answer was incredibly inadequate.
Elijah didn't take offense to her too bleak answer, but instead pulled her closer to him, tucking his body down behind hers. She felt like she was beginning to catch fever, and after what had happened the last time she had been feverish, it scared him. Her breathing was beginning to sound laboured, and Elijah knew that it was not the same feeling that she had when she was about to go into a fit of coughs. Her once tan skin was slowly starting to pale, taking on the same colouration of death that she had acquired before.
Running his fingers through her hair softly, he tried to bring any form of comfort that he thought might aid her in settling. A kiss against the back of her neck had her sighing softly but she remained tense against his form.
"I love you, Astraea," he finally whispered, leaning his cheek against hers. "And if you live with me through eternity, I promise that I will always love you." Her breath hitched at his words and Elijah could see the moisture from tears collected along her lashes before she tried to turn her face away from him and hide the tears that were inevitably going to fall. Hushing her softly as he wrapped his arm around her waist, pressing her tight against the warmth of his body, he allowed her to cry silently as the fear of death gripped her for the second time.
"I almost killed that man, Elijah. I wanted to kill him," she gasped out in a breathless voice as her sobs broke her sentence apart.
Continuing to try and sooth her he pressed kisses along her temple, forehead and cheeks, caressing her skin with his lips. Gasping through her tears, Astraea turned her face into his and caught his lips with hers, the tears on her cheeks dampening his skin as he pressed the kiss deeper and drew her closer to him. She was seeking comfort in any way that she could, and he would not refuse her anything if it were to help her feel better.
Fresh tears stung Astraea's eyes as she thought of losing this, never experiencing this again. To die would mean that she would leave Elijah, and he would be alone as well. Even if there was an afterlife, or a Heaven to go to after death, she would never see Elijah again because of the demon blood within him. Perhaps she would go to Hell for drinking his blood, letting it poison her. Pulling away from the kiss and framing his pale face with her dark hands, she looked into the sorrow that filled his brown eyes and drew in a deep breath.
"I will join you," she gasped out, offering a trembling smile. Elijah's face immediately brightened and the sorrow tapered away from his eyes and he smiled as well with perfect white teeth.
Grasping her in a bone-breaking embrace, Elijah took a deep inhale of her scent and lifted her off the bed, cradling her in his arms as he stood. She was frightened, of that he knew, but he could only take that fear away by bringing the life back into her. And to do so, she would have to take what her body was beginning to crave. Perhaps not enough to kill, but she needed the blood of a human.
"Have no fear, my star, I will free you," he assured as he moved toward the window and the encompassing darkness. Astraea took a calming breath as she wrapped her arms around his neck and lent into him, taking in his scent as her fevered forehead pressed against the side of his neck.
Soon stepping out onto the open streets of the small city, Elijah placed Astraea down on her feet so as not to raise suspicion and walked her carefully toward the docks where he could hear workers still yelling about as they tried to clear away the last of the shipments from other lands before they were too deep within the dark of night.
She allowed Elijah to guide her through the darkness, a place soon to become her closest home. Approaching the workers, they stopped at the corner to the docks, still out of sight. "Wait here," he whispered to her, letting her sit herself down on the wooden boards to a tavern. Astraea watched in silence as she wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes following after Elijah through the darkness as he stalked like the predator he was to where the workers lingered.
When one strayed away from the others, Elijah immediately struck and broke the neck of the larger man, pulling his limp form into the dark before his state could be noticed. Closing her eyes against further violence, Astraea bowed her head and whispered the words of a prayer, begging forgiveness for what she was about to do. Hearing the creak of the wooden boards, her eyes raised up to where Elijah was standing with the man draped over his shoulder.
"Was there need to kill him?" she asked in a meek tone, her body beginning to shake in distress.
"He is not dead, but paralyzed. Now, you must drink," Elijah urged, lying the body down on the boards. "Drink." Astraea's face was becoming paler than Elijah as she looked down at the body of the man, thinking of what she was bound to do. Collecting her skirts in her hands, she pulled herself up and moved over to sit beside the dying man. His eyes were closed, but he was taking in wheezing breathes that made Astraea's heart constrict.
Elijah lifted the man's wrist to his own mouth and bit down sharply, tearing open the skin and blooming blood to the surface. Astraea visibly tensed as the overwhelming urge to drink the blood took her over, fogging her very vision and causing her body to tremble. Elijah held the man's wrist out for her to take, and Astraea tried not to jump for it at the chance, but found herself doing so anyway. Her lips and teeth met the flesh that was torn around the wound, the warm red liquid staining her lips and slipping down her throat.
Well, now she's going to be a vampire no matter which era I'm writing in ;)
I'm sorry that I've been delaying this for so long, but I've been having a bit of writers block with some of the planning for later chapters. I'm so OCD that I can't write a new chapter until I'm sure of where it will lead. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope that you all review, it would be so much appreciated. :D
Chapter 50 – A Fonder Heart
"Luka is perfectly fine, and you have barely been out for over a day," he explained, following behind her as she looked around her home, making sure that everything was still the way that she had left it before Jonas activated the spell. She could smell that Jessica had been there recently and sighed in relief at knowing that the woman was still faithful to her amnesic mistress.
Halting at the base of the stairs, Elijah looked down at her as he waited for whatever she was going to say. "Elena was here?" she asked after a pause, inhaling again.
"She brought me here, after she pulled the dagger free. Astraea, you need to slow down," Elijah urged, but she continued moving toward the basement. Now that she was on her feet and moving there was no stopping her. Her home had been entered while she was not aware of it and she did not like that one bit, but she knew that Elena was someone that she had to keep on her good side and so she remained silent on the matter.
Down in the cellar, Astra picked one of her favourite bottles of blooded wine and moved back upstairs, Elijah casually waiting for her by the basement door.
After she was content with the condition of her home and had finished off half a bottle of the blood and wine, she made her way to her room to show and remove the last of the blood from her hair and skin. Elijah continued to hover as she was collected clothes from her closet, asking her to make sure that she was feeling at her best before he left her alone for any extended amount of time. She just rolled her eyes but smiled fondly as she draped her nightshirt over her arm with her undergarments hidden within the material, Elijah still sitting on the top step that led to her bed, ever watchful.