Within Every Secret
Venice, Italy, 1865
Astra was growing increasingly irritated at the dresses of this century, her ribs constantly constricted and pressed down unbearably. Annabel always praised her, saying that she looked glorious in the dresses, but Astra could never muster more than a smile and 'thank you' for the younger woman. Annabel didn't take it personally, she had been shown the gowns that her mistress had worn when she was human and, as shockingly scandalous as they were to her, she knew that they would be much more comfortable than corsets and tight silks for the Roman.
"Some women are beginning to wear new fashions coming from England," Annabel was saying from behind Astra as she tightened the cords of her corset, the woman grunting as her breathing was restricted. "They are an even tighter bodice and have a lower neckline; it is becoming very popular, miss."
"Gods above, I refuse to wear anything tighter," Astra hissed out as her cords tightened for the last time, being tied off and letting her move to pull her dress on over her undergarments.
Annabel smiled affectionately at her mistress, knowing that she meant well. Astra's mood had improved much over the months, especially after they had arrived in Italy. Elijah had many connections in the city and was able use those people to keep an eye on Astra for him—of course, the woman had shrieked at him like a banshee for her newest shadows, but she calmed significantly when she realized that she at least did not have Elijah lurking over her shoulder all hours of the day, and she could go outside without him.
"This is the new dress that Lord Elijah purchased for you, yes?" Annabel asked as she assisted her mistress with the dress, carefully keeping her hair in place as they worked the material over her head to cascade down her slim form. She was already skinny, but the corset made her absolutely tiny. It didn't quite suit her tall frame.
Even Elijah had commented on his preference for her older dresses, when her skin was visible.
He had only gotten a glare for his efforts, though Annabel had seen the blush her mistress hid away.
Sighing as she turned to the mirror, Astra ruffled the material of the skirt a moment. "Yes, another present," she answered. Elijah had been showering her with them for several months now and she was getting rather fed up. It wasn't that she didn't like them, she rather loved the lavishness that he was showing to her, but it was getting excessive and she was growing irritated that he seemed to think he could gain her forgiveness through gifts.
She tried to hate them, tried to refuse them, but he knew her too well.
That only made her angry.
Everything he did had her angry and everything that he did which she couldn't help but like made her furious.
This dress was a beautiful deep blue, a shade darker than Damon's eyes. Astra's heart still ached at the thought of the other man, but it was getting easier. It seemed that, just as she had with Elijah, she was slowly transforming her heartache into hatred as a coping mechanism.
"You look lovely as always, Miss Casca," Annabel complemented as she aided the blonde with a necklace that Elijah had also gifted her with, a light teal stone sitting in the center of a silver weave of metal. It wasn't as gaudy as much of the jewellery that Astra saw the richer women wearing, showing their wealth with unnecessarily large jewels and an abundance of golden trinkets.
She was relieved that Elijah knew she hated such a thing and kept her presents simple. Their vast number was probably due to how small they were, allowing him to shower her with more and more.
"Where is Lord Elijah this day?" Annabel asked as innocently as she could, glancing up at the look that Astra was giving her. She wasn't fooling anyone. Astra was fully aware that Annabel, as frightened as he was of Elijah most of the time, preferred him more so than Damon. After she had learned that Elijah had offended Astra through lies and deceit, but not through adultery, she preferred him more than Damon.
Lies and deceit could be explained and reasoned with, but to bed another woman whilst engaged was not something Astra could forgive.
Part of the reason for her absolute hatred for the actions, Annabel learned from Elijah, was due to Astraea's customs. When she was still human and destined to marry, most likely an Egyptian Scribe, she had been aware that her husband had every right to not only several wives, but concubines as well. Astra feared that she would be disrespected and disgraced in that way still, to love a man who would bed another.
For Damon to follow through with a relationship with Katherine, he had offended her in the worst way possible.
Elijah had the upper hand of knowing the truth about Astra's life, and her past, to not make such mistakes. He also knew of Astra's forgiving nature, as she had shown after she had first learned that he was a vampire. Even through her fear, she once more grew to trust him and even accepted his blood from him when he tried to save her from the sickness.
"Elijah will be out for the day, so he says," Astra answered with a slight snap to her tone. Elijah made it a point to tell Astra exactly where he was at all times; sometimes it was because he wanted to her know he would be gone for the day, others to tell her he was nearby and not to try anything foolish. She still felt like he was treating her as a child.
It infuriated her more than Damon's treachery at times, but then he would do something so sweet and made her wish she didn't hate him. Elijah was confusing her all over again.
"'Tis alright to love him, Miss Casca," Annabel said suddenly, her voice deliberately low to keep her words between her and Astra alone. Astra and Elijah were the only vampires in their temporary home, but Elijah had employed many new servants that neither Astra nor Annabel trusted the intentions of.
"It does not feel that way," Astra admitted softly, looking at herself in the mirror, wearing Elijah's expensive gifts. "I feel as though I betray my own heart by doing this; Damon's wound is still so fresh, but Elijah is…scarring it over. Mending it."
"Perhaps it is time for that talk between the two of you, Miss Casca," Annabel offered as her hands gently settled on the other woman's shoulders from behind. "I believe that if you hear him out, you may very well see Lord Elijah's deception as something…more."
Meeting Astra's violet eyes through the mirror, the vampire pondered on the woman's words before a long sigh passed her lips. "You are right, Annabel." She had put it off for too long already.
Turning around to face the servant, Astra smiled as she cupped the young woman's face in her hands. "So much like your mother, you are," she told her, caressing her thumbs along the woman's high cheekbones. "She would be very proud of you, Annabel, just as I am. And please, promise me that you will not waste your life away with me. I am old and bitter, and I do not wish this life on you."
Annabel's smile was sad at the mention of her mother, but her eyes held her love. "I would never leave you, Miss Astra. You have protected me and given me a life that I am so happy live. Thank you."
Annabel nearly gasped when Astra suddenly pulled her into a hug, needing to bend from her height over Annabel's smaller frame. The servant blinked in shock, feeling the woman's hands on her back stroking in a soothing manner. Once more, she remembered the story her mother told her as a child, when she had first met the kind, lonely vampire that saved her life.
I have no need for a slave, but I dearly miss having a family.
Annabel was warmed to know that Astra considered her mother and herself to be family, still seeing Astra as her wonderful mother that could withstand the greatest hardships. She would overcome her pain, and her heartache, and be happy again. It was only a matter of time. So she wrapped Astra in her arms, as she had seen her mother do many times before, and held the tired woman, hoping her all of the love and happiness that she truly deserved.
Soon, Elijah would discover the one secret, the one trick, which would break Astra's every resolve and open her heart once more.
Roman Empire, Stabiae, 78, A.D.
Astraea had to fight to remain still, in one place. She had the urge to move, to run and travel about the town. Unlike how she had felt so weak and sick only an hour before, Elijah was having trouble keeping her in place now. Rebekah was sitting on the bed with the other woman presently, holding her hands as Astraea tried to block out the loud sounds of Elijah and Nicklaus shouting at one another in the other room in some other language that she did not know. The loud sound was like a bell going off around her head, making her ears ring.
"It is normal," Rebekah tried to reassure, getting an exasperated look from the other blonde as she placed her hands over her ears in an attempt to silence the ringing, screeching sounds all around her. Directed to her brothers, Rebekah hissed something that they could clearly hear because the yelling toned down nearly immediately.
Though still loud, Astra could now take her hands away from her ears and breathe a soft sigh of relief. Smiling thanks to Rebekah, she glanced toward the door separating them from the quarrelling siblings, their words toned down to snaps and angered remarks spoken in low, threatening tones.
"What do they say?" she asked curiously of Rebekah, but she simply shook her head as she denied answering her. "Is it so terrible?"
Laughing softly, Rebekah looped her arm through Astraea's and gave her a soft smile of reassurance. "No, not so terrible; Nicklaus is protective of the family, our blood, and Elijah is protective of you. It clashes quite overdramatically." Pausing a moment, Rebekah's eyes grew serious as she looked down at the no-longer-human woman. "How do you feel? All better?"
Twitching somewhat uncomfortably, Astraea looked at Rebekah before speaking quietly. "It is different and so strange. I…do not know what to do with myself, I feel as though I am in someone else's body." Looking down at her hands, she was slightly surprised that she had retained her deep skin colour, considering how pale all of the siblings were. "I recognize the outward appearance, but that is all."
"You will adjust," Rebekah assured. "I will help, as will Nicklaus. Of course, Elijah will probably barely leave you alone for the first little while. This is just as new to us as it is to you, and he will be ever so cautious; you two will be nice and close, so-" Smacking the other woman lightly, though slightly too hard because of her new, still misunderstood strength, Rebekah laughed as she was interrupted and ignored the faint pain from the hit, playing it off so as not to gain more grief from the other woman.
Before they had a chance to continue the soft spoken conversation the brothers stepped back into the room, drawing attention to them, although discrete. Elijah immediately moved to Astraea's side, Rebekah knowing it was her time to vacate Astraea's side and stood from the bed to return to her place with Nicklaus. Knowing, apparently, that the yelling had grated terribly on her new nerves, Elijah gently traced the outline of her ear as though in apology.
"You should rest, let your body take time to adjust," Elijah tried to encourage, but he knew that it was futile. Astraea was wired with energy because of the fresh blood that she had consumed. He knew that she would not be tired and it would be difficult to fall asleep even if she agreed to try.
"You know that I cannot," she voiced his thoughts, looking slightly timid at her body's control over her. "Could…perhaps we could go for a walk?" she proposed quietly, tipping her head slightly to the side in an innocent manner, leaving the blonde curls of hair to fall to the side.
Rebekah looked at Astraea's hair in envy, wishing that her hair was so naturally curled and sleek. Even as unhealthy as Astraea had become while human, her hair had usually kept its health due to her mother's treatments to it. As the youngest sibling, she was often the one who was left to entertain her mother's whims.
"Alright," Elijah agreed with a faint sigh, knowing that it was all he could do. "Come, we have a couple of hours before dawn; we don't need people getting suspicious of us." Standing up and offering his hand, Astraea smiled brilliantly and took the offered hand, letting him help her up before winding his arm around hers to escort her out.
"We will be here when you return," Rebekah told her elder brother with a smile, waving to Astraea as they departed before she turned and slapped Nicklaus roughly across the cheek. Crying out in pain and surprise, the man stared down at her in shock from her actions. "What in the name of God is wrong with you, Nick? You have offended her! Elijah loves her and you were just blatantly insulting her! Even without understanding a word you said, she knew it was all bad on your part!"
"She is wrong, Rebekah. She died and came back to life-"
"As did we," Rebekah interrupted, moving to slap his arm this time. "What if this is just something else we can do? Think about it—Elijah fed her his blood because it aided her in feeling better, and she died with it still in her system. We died and awoke to feed on blood as well; the coincidences are too much, and you know such as well."
"So, what are you saying? She is some kind of thing born from Elijah's blood?"
"I suppose, yes," Rebekah answered. "Which means that she is family; she loves our brother and had captured his heart in return. We should be happy for him, and support him. He has someone that is so perfect for him, and she won't age and die like everything else in this world. She is family now."
Nicklaus let out a sigh and looked away from his sister, hating to admit that she was right. "You are certain we can trust her? She was created to kill us."
Smiling sadly, Rebekah nodded her head. "I am certain, my brother. She does not know that she was a witch, or that she could kill us. She was once human, you know, in the womb. Those witches chose her to kill us, she did not volunteer."
Nodding his head in resignation, Nicklaus silently gave up on any grudge against the woman. Rebekah had provided valid points, so he would no longer chase after the suspicions about this woman.
Outside, under the brilliant moon, Astraea leaned into Elijah's warmth as they walked through the dark streets of the trading town. She was smiling softly as his fingers ran through her hair gently, soothingly, chasing away the pains from the loud noises she was still growing accustomed to hearing. His heart was loud in her ears, his ghostly breath a caress on her senses.
"Everything is so…new," she whispered as she turned to bury her nose in his shoulder, inhaling his scent deeply. "So strong," she added on as her eyes fell closed, tipping her head back to inhale more deeply, smelling his blood beneath his skin.
Elijah watched her carefully as she soothed herself with his scent, her heart remaining calm. He had been worried she would be blood crazed, but it seemed that she was still very satisfied from the man at the docks. "You will adjust, my star," he assured softly, leaning down to ghost a kiss against her offered lips. She let out the faintest moan at the feeling, reminding Elijah that even her libido would be amplified. "Everything will be stronger to you now, Astraea. Enhanced. Not only your senses, but your feelings, as well. When once you would have been angry, now you will be furious. What once made you happy, will make you ecstatic."
"What once I loved," she began, continuing his explanation, "I am now enraptured."
Rising onto the tips of her toes to reach him, her lips claimed his in a proper kiss as her hand slipped back into his bound hair, pressing her body into his.
In the darkness of the night, Elijah returned her embrace as his lips moved against hers in that same eternal dance, his fingers caressing her anywhere he could reach, from her hair to her hips. She trembled and whispered, her fingers caressing his face as she locked it within her memory.
Forever his, bound to his darkness, Astraea locked herself to him willingly.
My god, it has been a very long time. And I really do apologize for that! I've also been rereading my past chapters to get out of my funk and good lord I needed to edit a lot better! Jeez, I have so many mistakes that are so easy to catch I don't know what happened. Apparently, I was horrible at editing!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I am again very sorry for the LONG wait!
To make it up to you, the next chapter will be…sex. Basically. Just sex.
Chapter 52 – Reclaim Those Missed Centuries
Sitting back on Elijah's hips fully when her trembles finally ceased, Elijah looked up at her through dazed eyes to see that she was smiling at him. Amethyst eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked down at the man she was seated upon, her hands absently tracing along his abs without looking at them. Elijah's hands moved to stroke along her thighs and hips, regulating his breathing as he watched her inhale deeply at the caresses.
"We should be getting out of bed," Elijah pointed out before choking on a groan as she squeezed her muscles around him, still buried in her warmth. "Astraea…"
"I wanna stay in bed," she argued playfully, beginning to roll her hips leisurely, just as he had when they first began. "Stay with you," she purred in addition, grinning down into his eyes before she scratched her nails down his chest and stomach while rolling her hips forward.
"Astraea," Elijah groaned out, his chest rumbling with the pleasure that starting to boil in his veins again.