Elena heard the front door come to a crashing close when Klaus had returned to the plantation; she quickly and quietly ran up the basement stairs and closed the door, hovering herself about in the kitchen as to not raise suspicion.
"Elena, are you here?" Klaus called out, walking through the living room, then the dining room before finally finding her in the kitchen, "thank god, I worried the witches or Marcel had found you whilst on your way back here."
"If you don't mind, Klaus, I want to be alone," she pointed her head at the door and folded her arms across her chest, standing as firm as she could against him considering the current state of her exhausted and frail body.
"You have to forgive me," he spoke quietly, pursing his lips together and trying to shake the emotion building up within him, "let me heal you, Elena, let me grovel for however long it takes for you to forgive me, let me do absolutely anything but don't send me away."
The tears started to well up in her eyes again but she was too exhausted to cry; she blinked her eyes, wiping the rogue tear that managed to escape at his words, "I can't, you went too far tonight and I'll always see this night when I look at you now."
"Elena," he brought his hand to her face, feeling her freeze up at his touch made his heart heavy but he still trailed his fingers along her cheek, catching the tears that he caused.
"It's too late," she cleared her throat and took a step back away from, nodding her head towards the door for a final time before he vanished from the kitchen; she wiped her hands across her cheeks and collected herself before returning to the basement.
Staring intently at Elijah's desiccated body, a glimmer of hope flashed across her pained eyes, praying that he would be the answer to her problems; he was honourable, compassionate and he was the opposite of his brother, if anyone was going to set Klaus straight, it was him.
She sat down beside the coffin, her back leaning against it and her knees propped up, using them as a pillow for her fatigued head; she wondered how she was managing to stay awake, regardless of how busy her mind was working trying to process the events of the entire night, she'd been a plaything for a bunch of hybrids and ran from Bourbon street to here.
She waited for what felt like hours until she heard him, gasping for air and sitting up in his coffin; she spun around on the ground beneath her, propping herself up on her knees to be more eye level with him, "Elijah."
He looked confused as he glanced quickly around the room before landing his gaze on Elena; his skin was grey and he looked sickly, she didn't know if she could manage this but she had too try, she held her wrist out towards him and closed her eyes as he gently pressed his hands into her skin, taking just enough blood to be replenished. He released her quickly and she instantly wrapped her hand around her wrist, applying enough pressure to eventually stop the bleeding.
She watched as his skin returned to a normal and healthy looking colour, a relieved smile flashing across her lips; he moved from the coffin like a blur, standing beside her as he extended his hand towards her, "what did I miss?"
Elena took his hand and he pulled her up to her feet but she moved so fast, her head went dizzy and she felt woozy, she lost her balance and tumbled slightly into him; he quickly caught her and looked over her carefully, noticing how fatigued she was, "Elena, are you alright?"
She closed her eyes for a long moment, taking a deep breath and collecting herself, ready to stand on her own; Elijah's hand hovered near her back, it looked as if she could faint at any given time and he was concerned.
"It's Klaus," she spoke quietly to avoid his vampire hearing being alarmed, "he's out of control."
"What has my deranged brother done now?" Elijah spoke through clenched teeth and watching Elena's demeanour completely change before his eyes; she became nervous and anxious as she unzipped her jacket and pulled the collar away from her neck, revealing the bite wounds to him. She felt his finger graze under her chin as he lifted her head up slightly, "Did my brother do this to you?"
He didn't sound angry, his voice broke with remorse and sorrow as he inspected each wound on her neck; the blood on her neck and chest had dried and there was bruising around each puncture, it was like something from a horror movie, she hadn't seen it to its full extent yet, she came straight in here when she returned, all she knew was that it was causing her so much pain.
"No, we where out in the woods, he wanted to turn a pack of wolves into hybrids," she spoke, her voice hollow as she relived the night; she pulled her zip back up and covered her wounds with her collar once again, "he ran out of the blood I gave him and unleashed 3 of them onto me so they could transition."
Elijah didn't speak a word, he just blurred out of the basement in a frenzied rage, "Niklaus!"
"Oh god," she muttered under her breath as she heard him growl his name across the entire plantation; she ran up the stairs and headed for the living room but she was brought to a sudden stop when Elijah and Klaus flashed in front of her, the eldest Mikaelson pinning him to the kitchen wall.
"You vile, deranged, sad little man, Niklaus," Elijah gritted his teeth, his words as cold as ice as he restrained his brother; Klaus broke the hold he had of his neck with one swift arm motion and pushed him back, Elijah went hurling towards the floor but landed on his feet, immediately lunging for his brother again, grabbing him by the neck and flinging his back onto the floor, "how dare you, brother!"
As soon as Klaus stood from the floor, he was met by Elijah jumping up and bringing his hand down upon him, forcing him back to the ground once again, "you force me back into that obscene coffin, you disregard any meaning of humanity and you let your abominations attack Elena, taking her blood against her will! I don't even recognise you right now, brother."
Elijah was usually so calm and collected, she had never seen him so enraged; Elijah had brought his fist to meet Klaus' face but he quickly dodged, making Elijah punch a hole into the wall and they carried on fighting throughout the plantation.
"Enough," Klaus growled loudly, shoving his brother back and throwing him across the room; Klaus sped to Elena, his face inches away from hers and she felt a cold shudder bring her body to a freeze, "I felt guilty enough without you resurrecting my brother."
Elijah was next to Elena in a heartbeat, colliding his hand with his shoulder and pushing him away from her, "you won't lay so much as a finger on her, Niklaus."
"She quite enjoyed it when I touched her, brother," Klaus smirked, a hint of evil within it that she hadn't seen in a short while; he watched as there facial expressions both changed and Elijah looked at her but she refused to look him in the eye, shame overcoming her. Klaus had walked over to his drinks trolley and poured himself a glass of bourbon, " oh, she didn't tell you?"
Elena's eyes widened, shock overcoming her as he revealed there dark and intimate secret, the whole reason she had let him in and how this came about, "Please, do tell him, Elena, about our indiscretions."
She squinted her eyes at him, before turning to face Elijah, speechless; she couldn't get a read on him, usually she was quite good at guessing what people were thinking but he had shut down towards her, "Elena, please leave us, I will handle my brother."
She just nodded her head and obliged, taking herself up to her bedroom and locking the door behind her; she found herself standing in front of her bathroom mirror again, slowly unzipping her jacket and revealing the sick show of wounds on her neck, a small gasp escaping her lips when she saw the brutality to it.
The tears could no longer be held back, they streamed down her face and her hand instantly covered her mouth; she felt sick to her stomach, the nausea building up until she couldn't stop it, she sprang for the toilet and the contents of her stomach came hurling out. She flushed the toilet and sat still for a moment, ensuring her wooziness had completely gone before running herself a hot shower and jumping in.
She grabbed the wash cloth, gently wiping it across her neck and chest area and the water began to run red as it fell to her feet; after she had spent a long hour in there, crying, thinking and crying some more, she exited the bathroom, finding herself a tank top and a pair of shorts for bed.
She sat at the dressing table opposite her bed and ran a brush through her hair, breaking the knots and unravelling the tangles before looking at her neck once again; the holes where deep, some where bigger where they had tore at her and the bruising filled the gaps where her healthy skin once was. But she couldn't cry anymore, she didn't have anything left inside her to feel the pain at that moment.
A sudden knock on her door snapped her from her thought induced trance and she placed her brush down, standing away from the dressing table and a short distance away from it, "Who is it?"
"It's me," she heard Elijah's all too familiar voice ring in her ears and she instantly opened the door, allowing him to enter; she had been curious what the two siblings had been doing whilst she hid herself away in the bathroom but she dare not ask, "how are you feeling?"
"Better," she pursed her lips together slightly before closing her bedroom door behind him; he had changed out of the suit he had been daggered in and cleaned himself up, he was wearing his usual white shirt with the top button undone and tucked into a pair of nice black suit pants, it was amazing to her how perfect he could look after being dead for a while, "weak but better."
"Niklaus told me everything," he admitted, causing her anxiety to return; she sat down on the bed, forcing the breathless feeling away from her and tried to remain calm.
"I don't know what to say," her voice quiet and riddled with guilt and sorrow, she watched him as he carefully sat beside her on the bed, he was moving as if not to trigger any unwanted feelings of anxiety and fear within her.
"You don't have to say anything, Elena," his head dipped slightly, his line of sight directed at the floor beneath his feet, "I'm truly sorry for everything my brother has put you through, if I was aware of him kidnapping you from the beginning I could have prevented all of this, forced him to see reason and return you to your family."
"This isn't your fault, Elijah, it's mine," she finally spoke, her gaze shifting onto him, "I let it happen, for a minute there I thought I saw something different in him and we connected but I should have known it was just me, seeking something to fill this emptiness inside me. It was a mistake and it won't happen again."
She hoped it wouldn't.
He stared at her intently, listening to the words she spoke to him and feeling troubled by how she had come to think about herself, Elijah always saw something so pure in Elena and he wouldn't let his brother take that away from her, "You needn't explain your actions to me, Elena, I'm here without judgement and ready to do right by you were my brother has failed to do so.
"I wish you wouldn't be so understanding, Elijah, the things I let him do to me," she paused for a long moment, a small breath escaping her lips at the images that came flooding back to her mind, "I wanted it, I liked it and there's still something, even after everything he has done since the day he came into my life, that makes me want more and it's torture."
"I understand the temptation to switch off all your morals and emotions and give into something more dark and comfortable," he slowly brought his hand to her face, his finger catching a loose hair that stuck to her cheek and tucked it behind her ear but he didn't stop there, he trailed his finger along her jawline and smoothed his fingers over the bruising on her neck, "sometimes we trust to easy and allow any type of feeling, even the inexplicable ones that consume us and our darkness, to run free and they find the nearest host to latch onto, anything to fill that void."
"That's exactly it," she spoke lowly, relieved that finally someone understood and could help her understand too; his touch had brought her a slight comfort, even being next to him was keeping her calm and collected, "I'm glad your back, Elijah."
There had always been a bond between them, they where both older siblings with responsibilities and burdens that no other can understand; the pull of family and the need to see it whole was overwhelming, the need to protect everyone around them from the horrors of the world with an urgency, just to see a shred of happiness within them.
"I'm glad to be back," his lip curled up into a small smile at her words before he removed his hand from her neck and cleared his throat, "I'm taking you home tomorrow, Elena, I would do it now but you're too weak to travel."
"I can't," she pressed her a hand to her forehead and shook her head slightly, "I can't go home, not yet, I can barely look at myself, there's no way I can face my family yet."
"They would be relieved to see you," Elijah protested, refusing to allow her to stay in this horrific situation she was in.
"It's not just that, me and Klaus have things to see through here, what we did together was so wrong, even nature fought back," a small chuckle escaped her lips uncontrollably; if she didn't laugh, she would cry and she couldn't do that again.
"What do you mean?" Elijah asked, a puzzled expression creeping into face.
So, Elena told him everything that had happened since her arrival in New Orleans, not missing even a single detail; the witches, the vampires, the hold Sophie had on her, the imbalance in nature caused by Marcel and his hold on the witches and how her and Klaus' union had sent a ripple of dark energy through the earth.
"How long was I daggered for?" Elijah mused, that famous smirk gracing his lips at the predicament they had found themselves in.
"Too long," she smiled kindly at him, her head dipping slightly as she tucked her hair behind her ears.
"You should get some rest, Elena, we'll deal with all of this tomorrow, the quicker it's handled, the sooner I can return you to your family," just as he was about to stand from the bed, he remembered, "one last thing."
He paused for a long moment, undoing the button on his cuff and sliding his sleeve up, revealing his wrist, he sunk his fangs into it and offered it to Elena, "Niklaus informed me that you wouldn't allow him to heal you but please, let me help you."
She stared intently into his eyes, pondering his request carefully; she knew what it meant to feed from someone as ancient and as powerful as an original vampire and at that current time, she was volatile, a complete emotional wreck and she didn't know if this would help her or hurt her.
"I can't see that horror on your neck, Elena or feel the pain in your eyes any longer, let me heal you," he didn't sound demanding or like he wanted anything in return for his kindness and she knew, deep down that she couldn't go on with such wounds so she agreed, nodding her head slightly as he lifted his wrist towards her, she gently grasped at his arm, her other hand holding onto his as she wrapped her mouth around the two small bite wounds on his wrist; she could already feel her energy and strength start to return to her as his blood slipped down her throat.
She pulled her face away from his arm and wiped the few loose droplets away from the corner of her lip; what she wasn't fully aware of there hands still touching, the comfort she found from him holding her ever so gently and with a whole new meaning to her that she never got from Klaus. There eyes locked onto each others and her heart began to flutter, the intensity between them at that moment heightening from her feeding from him.
A sharp breath escaped her lips as she released his hand and stood from the bed, clearing her throat, she spoke quickly, "thank you, Elijah, for everything."
He stood from the bed, walking towards the light switch and hovering by it for a long moment whilst she climbed into bed; she leaned over and switched on the lamp that was placed on her bedside table.
"Goodnight, Elena," he said softly before switching the light off and heading towards the door.
"Wait," she sat up quickly, her eyes flickering around the room and she began to feel claustrophobic, "would you stay with me? Just for a little while."
She didn't need to tell him why, he could already see the fear on her face at the thought of being alone with Klaus still acting unpredictable and the hybrids he had created were so fresh, she was scared they could attack at any given moment.
Elijah nodded his head once and closed the bedroom door, taking a seat on the chair at the foot of her bed, "I won't let anything happen to you, you can rest easy."
Her gratitude towards Elijah was immense, after everything they had been through in the past, the amount of times they had betrayed and hurt each other and he would still sit at the foot of her bed and watch over her to ensure her safety, a true gentleman.
She nestled further into her blanket as she tightly wrapped it around her like a safety net, her eyes began to close and she eventually drifted off into a troubled slumber.