"I can't, Elijah." Elena murmured softly, breaking their kiss. "I can't let another thing dictate my life." She said, shaking her head as she stepped away from his hands. "I just can't."
"You are." Elijah argued, holding her arm to stop her from walking away. "You're letting your fear dictate your actions, Elena, don't let it, you know what's real." He plead, his eyes imploring her to see reason, desperation on his features as he watched her face fall blank again.
"I think you're the one doing that, Elijah." She said, taking her arm from his hold. "I'm not some witchy experiment, so I guess we should both get used to feeling like crap."
Elijah didn't move as she walked away, closing his eyes in defeat as he stood in the cool water of the swimming pool, a lump in his throat.
"What the hell happened to you?" Rebekah remarked, noting the water dripping from Elena's clothes.
"A pool." The brunette quipped, noting the blonde's eyes narrow in response.
"Your emotions are still off." Klaus noted, surprise colouring his tone.
"How observant of you." Elena scoffed, sarcasm dripping from her words.
"You and Elijah won't get better while your emotions are off."
"Is it state the obvious day or something?" Elena muttered, rolling her eyes at the hybrid's words. "Did I miss the announcement?"
The room burst into a flurry of movement quickly after as Klaus slammed Elena against a wall, his eyes flashing amber. Rebekah flew in front of him to stop any of the other vampires from pulling him away from her as Bonnie and Davina stood, both determined to use their magic on Klaus if they had to, despite how much the spell had drained them both.
"You will turn on your emotions, Elena." Klaus hissed, holding the brunette by her throat. "You are responsible for Elijah's sickness, so help me god, you will turn it back on."
"Klaus!" Caroline protested, glaring at Rebekah as she blocked her from getting to him. "Stop it!"
"Are you trying to compel me?" Elena rasped, spluttering laughter falling from her lips around the hold Klaus had on her. "Try again, I'm immune." She smiled, holding up her wrist to display a silver bracelet.
Klaus's assured face fell into a glare as he growled at her. "This isn't a laughing matter. Turn it on, or I will tear your heart from your chest."
"Let her go." Elijah said firmly, glaring at his brother as he turned to look at him. "Now, Niklaus."
A muscle in Klaus's jaw twitched as he looked back at his older brother, Elena falling unceremoniously to the floor a moment later; Davina, Caroline and Bonnie rushing to her side.
Elena laughed hysterically as she rolled onto her back, her hand holding her temporarily bruised throat as it healed.
"Are you insane?" Rebekah hissed, turning to Elijah. "She is making you sick because of her stubbornness!"
"We will not force her hand." Elijah reiterated firmly, looking behind his siblings to Bonnie and Davina. "I assume this sickness cannot become lethal?"
Davina shook her head, only meeting Elijah's eyes briefly before turning her attention back to Elena.
Elijah nodded. "Then that confirms it, we will not force Elena's hand in this matter. She will turn her emotions on when she is ready, no sooner." He met Elena's gaze fore a moment as her laughter died off, turning on his heel and leaving quickly, Hayley following him.
"What are you doing?" Hayley asked, trailing after Elijah as he walked up the stairs, ignoring his soft sigh of reply. "Klaus and Rebekah are right! That doppelganger is making you sick, Elijah, she doesn't get a choice in this!"
"Of course, she does." Elijah refuted, turning to face Hayley as he reached the hallway, her hovering a few stairs behind as she looked up at him. "What is this world if we take away people's choices?"
"She's making the wrong one." Hayley argued, shaking her head. "Can't you see that?"
"It doesn't matter." Elijah smiled at her, shaking his head slightly. "It's Elena's choice," he murmured, stressing her name, "whether anyone else believes she's making the right one or not."
"You're suffering because of it!" Hayley protested, her voice indignant as her brow furrowed. "How can you say that?"
Elijah smiled again, more to himself than to Hayley. "I would suffer fates a thousand times worse than this for her, Hayley. This is nothing."
"Why her?" Hayley asked, causing Elijah to pause and turn back to face her as she shook her head. "Of all people, her?"
"Elena is…everything good in this world; she's everything I lost to my vampirism." Elijah mused, a sad smile still on his face. "She's a good person, Hayley, I know the two of you haven't gotten along, but you should give her a chance."
Elena's throat was burning as she let out a scream. Sweat beaded on her brow, the broiling heat barely a thought in the back of her head as she found herself unable to move save for one of her hands. Another pair of hands groped at her body, finding themselves swiftly batted away with a soft growl.
Elena screamed again, throwing back the line of shots in front of her one by one, a cheer erupting in the packed courtyard of the Abattoir as she slammed the last glass down on the bar.
"I didn't expect to see you here tonight." A familiar shouted from behind her, making Elena smile.
"You said your doors were always open!" Elena reminded him, turning to look at Marcel.
Marcel held his hands up in a mock surrender, laughing as she nodded approvingly at his gesture. "I thought you'd be with Elijah, what with-"
Elena threw a finger over his lips, her eyes narrowing at his words. "We are not talking about that tonight; we're actively not talking about it."
Marcel nodded slightly, shrugging as Elena took her finger away from his lips. "Understood." He gestured to the make-shift bar behind them. "Shots, or are you after something a bit more long-term?"
"Shots." Elena grinned, spinning on her heel and strutting back to the bar. "Definitely shots."
"You've caught a lot of eyes tonight." Marcel called to Elena, the loudness of the music stopping them from talking normally. "This lot aren't used to seeing a vampire of your magnificence in here."
"Flattery suits you." Elena scoffed, sipping at the cocktail in her hands as she swayed to the beat. Her hair was half-up, curled in loose ringlets that swished against her bare back as she moved.
"I try." Marcel grinned, winking at Elena when she laughed again at his words. His eyes darted off to an area behind her, his face falling grave as he looked back at her with a quick flash of a tight smile. "Excuse me, something requires my attention."
Elena returned his smile briefly as he walked away, dismissing any concern about the situation behind her as she allowed the music and atmosphere to flood her senses again. She rocked easily to the music, absently sipping at the drink in her hand every so often when she remembered it was there. Another body soon joined behind her, hands on her hips as they rocked together.
Elena hummed happily, allowing the new presence to slowly try to seduce her. Maybe she should go for it; she'd never slept with anyone without any strings attached, it was probably something she should try while she had the capacity to enjoy it.
The feel of fangs on her neck snapped her out of her thoughts and she rolled her eyes, perhaps it wasn't something to try.
She flipped the man over her shoulder, pinning him to the ground as she twisted his arm behind him, popping his shoulder out of place. "Only one person feeds on me, and it's not you." She growled, throwing his arm down and stalking away, irritated that she'd now lost her drink and her source of fun.
Elena ordered another drink, and a shot, damn vampire metabolism, getting in the way of getting drunk.
"Everything okay?" Marcel asked, sidling up beside Elena. "Raf says you threw his arm out."
"He was going to bite me." Elena returned, her eyes narrowed. "Asshole deserved worse."
Marcel shrugged. "Okay, fair enough." He let out a sigh, tuning to the bartender and gesturing for a drink.
"You look stressed." Elena noted, taking a sip of the cocktail she was presented with through a straw. "Busy night?"
Marcel huffed, rolling his eyes. "You could say that, your Salvatores tried to crash the party, no sense of discretion where you're concerned."
"Stefan and Damon were here?"
"Tried to be," Marcel shrugged, "we moved them along pretty quickly."
Elena let out a soft hum of acknowledgement, sipping at her drink again, holding the straws in place as she drank.
"They seemed under the impression you wanted to see them."
Elena snorted, not sure why she was so surprised that they would try something like that.
"That's about what I assumed." Marcel chuckled, taking a large mouthful from his drink as soon as it was handed to him. "They were pretty pissed when you left the plantation without talking to them."
Elena rolled her eyes in response, shaking her head slightly. "They don't know how to take a hint."
"So I've noticed."
"Have you ever turned your emotions off, Marcel?" Elena asked, turning to face him fully, resting her elbows on the bar behind her.
Marcel shook his head slowly. "I've considered it, but I've never gone through with it."
"Why didn't you?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I felt like things could always get worse. I always treated it as a one time deal, so I didn't want to waste it."
"Have you ever wished you had?"
Marcel laughed, shaking his head as he took another mouthful of his drink. "I didn't realise we were playing twenty questions."
"I'm surprised you know what twenty questions is." Elena quipped back, laughing when he choked on his drink at her remark, glaring at her as he wiped some beer from his chin.
"I'm down with the lingo." Marcel argued, his voice indignant and the matching expression reaching his face when Elena only laughed at him.
"That's exactly what people who aren't 'down with the lingo' say." She laughed, shaking her head. "Just, fyi."
Marcel didn't say anything, only scoffing as he took a sip of his drink, assessing the room around them, keeping an eye out for any vampires causing trouble.
Elena scanned the room in a similar fashion, although she was only striving to take in the area around her; entranced by the décor and layout of the courtyard. The balcony and the rooms adorning it caught her attention, and she tilted her head as she took them in.
"Do you live here?" She blurted before she could stop herself, a raised eyebrow from Marcel the only signifier of his surprise.
"I do." He confirmed, stopping his perusal of the room to turn back to Elena, a clear question written on his face.
"Can I see?"
Elena wasn't really sure how they'd ended up here.
One minute, Marcel was giving her a tour of the rest of the compound, the music muffled but still pulsing up through the floor, and the brightness of the compound lending a startling sense of sobriety. The next minute, Elena found herself pressed up against a wall, her legs wrapped around Marcel's waist as they kissed, her hands clumsily pushing his jacket from his shoulders; swiftly moving on to start tugging up the bottom of his t-shirt.
Marcel put a hand over hers, breaking their kiss with a soft gasp of breath. The two remained like that for several long minutes, Elena wedged between the wall and Marcels body as they fought to regain the ability to speak.
"You should be talking everything out with Elijah, not here." Marcel said eventually, stepping away from Elena so that she could stand, but holding her arm so she couldn't walk away. "What the two of you have is special, Elena, most people would give anything to find their soulmate."
"We're not soulmates." Elena bit, tugging at the hold he had on her, glaring at him when he refused to let her go.
"Of course, you are." Marcel said, a confused frown tugging at his brow. "What else did you think 'bound souls' meant?"
Elena frowned, although it came out closer to a pout as she refused to look in Marcel's direction. "I don't know, like some witch just…decided to bind us together."
Marcel let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. "No, Elena, god, no wonder you left like you did."
Elena frowned at him, confused at the quick shift in Marcel's demeanour.
"Come on," Marcel prompted, gently pulling at Elena's arm, "come sit down."
Elena perched on the edge of his bed, folding her arms over her chest when Marcel let go of her. She crossed one leg over the other as Marcel sat next to her, waiting for him to start talking.
"Ligatus Animarum…it's not a spell placed on you, Elena, it's a genuine bond, between two souls that are each other's equal in every way. It's for two people who perfectly compliment each other, and are meant to be together forever."
"So, literally soulmates." Elena breathed, dying to hit herself for how stupid she'd been.
"That's the simplest way to explain it, yeah."
midnight-writer97: I'm glad! Sorry if this chapter ruined it! I'm kind of relieved it was expected in a way, I wanted to leave enough of a trail that it would make sense when they found out, rather than leave it completely mysterious and not really make much sense in the end! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I've got more to come don't worry! You're so welcome ;)
Guest: I love that idea! Elena's going to have a lot on her plate, whether its dealing with getting her emotions back, or dealing with the bond, so dating sounds like an awesome idea for her to find a way to cope! I'm so on it with her and Marcel, don't worry!
HisSecretLover18: Thank you so much! I'm so happy you're enjoying it!
Guest: Is there really any way to read stories too fast?! Thank you sooo much, ahhh I'm so excited I'm ahead on them! Thank you :D
You lot make it so hard to delay my posting! I don't have the willpower to keep anything away from you to try and get on a schedule! I've managed to get chapter 15 written, and I'm halfway through 16, so I'm sure I won't keep you waiting for much longer!
As always, I look forward to hearing from you all!
Until next time,
~ I x