"Not that I'm complaining…" Elijah breathed, pulling Elena tightly against him as her hands turned their attention to his tie, undoing the silky fabric easily even as she continued to lave at his neck.
"Then don't." Elena groaned, moving on to undoing the buttons of his shirt.
"What, exactly, has brought this on?" He murmured, gently tugging Elena back to look at him, smiling when she pouted at him. "Honesty?"
Tilting her head, she frowned. "When am I not?"
Raising an eyebrow at her, Elijah waited patiently for an answer, smothering a frown at her bizarre answer.
"I've just missed you, Elijah, I'm so sick all the time; I barely know what's happening most of the time. I just want to enjoy some of the time I have as a functioning member of the undead." She returned his raised eyebrow, wrapping her arms around his neck again, her lips drawing back into a pout. "Please?"
Giving into her soft eyes, Elijah let out a soft groan, leaning forward to recapture her lips. Shifting forward in his seat, one hand in the small of her back to keep her from falling back, he helped her take of his jacket.
"Elijah?" She murmured against his lips, kissing a trail along his jawline as he hummed in answer. "What's it like drinking vampire blood?"
Swallowing thickly, Elijah let out a soft huff of breath that sounded rather like a scoff as her lips made their way to his throat. "Blood-sharing is an incredibly personal experience," he murmured, his head falling forward onto her shoulder as she continued her mission, "one I had never had the desire to partake in before I drank from you." He confessed, feeling her pause slightly.
"And now?" She pushed, gently nipping at his neck, smiling when he gasped softly.
"Your blood is rather addictive, Elena, I've never tasted anything quite like it."
Threading her hands into Elijah's hair, she crashed her lips back onto his, irritated at the moment of hesitation she felt from him and pulling away to meet his gaze again. "What?"
"Why all the questions all of a sudden?"
Elena rolled her eyes. "I could ask you the same thing."
Holding her gaze evenly, Elijah said nothing, waiting for her to answer him.
Dropping her gaze, Elena bit her lip, fiddling with his dress shirt.
"Elena?" He prompted softly.
"Is it…is it different feeding from an Original?" She mumbled eventually, still refusing to meet his gaze until he put a gentle finger under her chin, guiding her face up to him.
"Is that something you're interested in?"
"It's…crossed my mind." She confessed, glancing away from him briefly before looking back at him. "Is it…different?"
Elijah held his breath for a moment before letting it out in a huff. "We scarcely let others drink from us; many vampires use it as a symbol of status, to feed on another is to own them in some vampires' eyes."
"Not in yours?" Elena probed, tilting her head.
He laughed softly. "I don't think I own you if that's what you're asking." Smiling at Elena's soft laugh, he gently laid her plait down her back. "Kol told us once that a young vampire he was messing around with became addicted to his blood. Personally," he sighed, "I was never overly eager to explore it."
Elena nodded, dropping her gaze again with a soft sigh.
"Elena, if this is something you want to explore, we can. As always, I am at your mercy." Gently guiding her face to his neck, Elijah leant his neck to the side, dropping his hand to Elena's waist so as not to pressure her either way.
Allowing her fangs to extend, Elena smiled into his neck, sinking her fangs into the soft skin there, relishing in the taste that flooded her mouth.
Elijah grunted, his eyes closing as she drank from him. How was it possible that Elena enjoyed him feeding from her? He just felt…wrong.
"Elena," he mumbled after a few long moments, "I think that's enough." Groggily dragging his hand up to her hair, he pulled slightly, unable to put any real force into it. "Elena." He muttered again, relieved when she finally pulled her fangs from his neck.
"You know, Elijah, you probably shouldn't have let Davina perform that spell on you." She said softly, sitting back to look him in his eyes, tilting her head at him when his head fell to the side slightly, lidded eyes struggling to stay open as his neck refused to heal.
"What do you mean?" Elijah mumbled, his words slightly slurred.
Climbing from his lap, Elena rolled her eyes, turning her back on him to retrieve a white, bone blade from one of the bookshelves. Twirling the blade in her hand, she continued on to the bookshelves, searching for a particular title.
"Whe-where did you get that?" Elijah wheezed, slowly, laboriously, pushing himself up from his chair and taking a cautious step forward, bracing himself on his desk.
Elena scoffed. "Does it really matter?"
Taking a step around his desk, Elijah cursed himself as he stumbled and fell to his knees. "I guess not." He grit out, deciding against getting back to his feet and dragging himself slowly across the room.
"Say, Elijah, in your opinion, how do werewolves taste?" Elena mused, turning to another shelf of books.
Breath catching in his throat, Elijah grimaced, pausing in his movements and falling to sit down. "Why.." He cleared his throat, coughing slightly and heaving for breath. "Why do you ask?"
She shrugged. "I was just wondering if pregnant wolves taste better than otherwise," she hummed, picking up a book and examining it, frowning and throwing it over her shoulder after a moment, "I didn't expect Hayley to taste so good."
"What?" Elijah gasped, shaking his head slightly as he rolled over onto his stomach, continuing to drag himself towards the door.
"Don't get me wrong," Elena continued, picking up another book, "tearing her heart out was much more satisfying than anything else."
Stumbling at her words, Elijah fell onto his front, huffing out a pained breath as he dragged himself back onto his arms, moving forward again.
"I wonder what they'll say when they find her…dead in the basement…" She tossed another book away, immediately picking up another. "Dead baby in her womb." Examining the book in her hands, she was oblivious to Elijah propping himself onto his elbows, fighting to sit upright as he reached the door.
The sound of another book hitting the floor startled him, causing him to fumble the doorknob he managed to grab hold of and slide back to the floor. Frustrated, he glared at the door handle, remembering belatedly that Elena had locked the door when she'd come in.
Finally satisfied with the book she'd selected, Elena turned back to Elijah, rolling her eyes when she saw him by the door. "What are you doing all the way over there?" She asked, striding over to the struggling Original and hoisting him upright, swinging his arm over her shoulder and dragging him back over to the armchairs, depositing him in it rather unceremoniously.
"Elena," he wheezed, grabbing at her wrist, "you…you're scaring me."
She rolled her eyes, sneering at him as she tore her wrist from his grasp. "Awh, the big bad Original is scared of a little doppelganger."
Taking a long breath in, Elijah grit his jaw, narrowing his eyes at Elena as much as he could. "Who are you? Wha-what have you done to Elena?"
"You are supposed to be the most intelligent Original," Elena rolled her eyes again, "clearly not when it comes to seeing the people you love clearly." She grabbed his chin between her fingers, lifting his face to examine him, laughing when he tore his face from her grasp. "Was it the braid thing that gave me away? Stupid little brat managed to hide some of her memories from me, clearly hoping you'd be able to figure it out sooner."
"Who are you?" Elijah repeated, his words slow and deliberate.
Elena smiled, tilting her head at him and twirling the point of the blade she held on the book she'd chosen. "Some people call me The Hollow, but you can call me Inadu. Pleasure's all mine, I'm sure." Her smiled widened, her eyes glowing blue as Elijah gasped for breath, his chest heaving.
"Elena?" He probed, trying to feign some calm in his seat.
"She's fine," Inadu scoffed, "tucked away in here somewhere." She sighed, tapping her head. "Don't worry though, 'Lijah, your 'lovely Elena' can see everything I'm doing to you."
Taking in another shuddering breath, Elijah lifted his chin, meeting her eyes evenly.
"Is that it?" She frowned, huffing. "I was hoping for a little more excitement, but I guess not." Lunging forward, she thrust the blade into his chest, holding it firm for a few moments before she released it, letting it burrow into his chest.
Rebekah huffed, adjusting her grip on the tray she was carrying to allow her to open the door to the basement steps, wondering why Hayley had decided to be quiet for once in her life; opening the basement door normally resulted in a barrage of insults.
Continuing down the stairs, she wondered for the umpteenth time why she had been allocated the duty of making sure Hayley was fed.
Re-adjusting the tray of food, yet again, she pulled open the door to the room they were keeping Hayley in frowning when the scent of blood caught her attention. "I swear," she muttered, "if you've hurt yourself as some sort of ploy to get us to let you out of here…" She trailed off, dumping the tray on the table and turning to look at Hayley, her jaw dropping when she registered the way Hayley was slumped forward in her chair, the heart on the floor catching her attention a moment later. "Nik!" The call for her brother tore from her throat as she dove for the wolf, lifting her head to confirm that the heart belonged to her.
"Rebekah?" Klaus asked, appearing in the doorway. "What on Earth-" He cut himself off, eyes widening at the scene he found himself in front of.
"She was like this when I found her." Rebekah replied, the words flying out as she tore the binds holding Hayley to the chair and dragging her to lie on the floor. "I think the baby is still alive," she continued, pressing her ear to the swollen stomach, "get Bonnie and Davina."
"Elena!" He didn't normally scream but, given the situation, it felt appropriate. "Elena! Can you hear me?"
"I'm over here! Elijah! Help me! Please!"
Spinning on the balls of his feet, Elijah's eyes darted around the room, barely managing to register any specific shapes in the darkness of the area they were in. Pacing back and forth as her voice echoed from the walls around him, Elijah desperately tried to pinpoint the direction that Elena's cries were coming from.
"Elijah, please!"
"Elena, I don't…I can't find you!" He shouted, lurching around when her voice echoed behind him again. "Where are you?"
"Why won't you just help me? Please!"
"I can't…Elena I can't!" The fight drained out of Elijah in an instant, falling to his knees his head dropped into his hands; his shoulders shaking as he sobbed, Elena's voice continuing to echo around him.
"You were supposed to help me!" She shouted suddenly, her voice loud in his ear.
Scuttling away in a stunned shock, Elijah's head jerked up to look at the woman in front of him. Blood ran from her eyes in the form of tears, dripping onto the cement under them. An open bite wound on her neck leaked blood, surrounded by blackened veins.
"Why didn't you help me, Elijah?" She asked, falling to her knees in front of him as the skin of her hands and arms began to grey. "I trusted you."
Crawling a short distance to her, he took hold of her gently, his hands on her upper arms. "I'm sorry, we just have to find Niklaus, he can heal you. He must be here somewhere." Looking around desperately, his hands fell from her body as he forced himself to his feet, shouting for his brother.
"Klaus can't fix this, Elijah."
"Niklaus!" He screamed, letting out a soft gasp when his next step took him to a familiar quarry, circles of fire burning behind him.
Held in Klaus's arms, Elena met his eyes, not paying any heed to the man draining her blood. "I told you, Elijah, Klaus can't fix this."
Tearing his fangs from Elena's throat, Klaus released her, shoving her forward so that she landed in a heap on the floor. "What will you do now, brother? You should have saved her."
"I-I couldn't." Elijah stuttered, looking between his brother and the woman at his feet in bewilderment. "I tried everything!"
"It wasn't good enough." Elena said softly, walking up behind Elijah to lay a hand on his shoulder. "It's never good enough."
Gaze flicking between the woman sprawled in front of him and the hand on his shoulder, Elijah turned to face her slowly. "Tatia?"
"You couldn't save either of us, Elijah, you never save us." Tatia glared at him. "We loved you; we gave you everything, and you're the reason we died."
"We trusted you." Elena chimed in, appearing next to her double. "You're the reason we're dead."
godric777: Thank you :)
HisSecretLover18: It was only the tip of the iceberg I'm afraid... At least we know it wasn't actually Elena I suppose...
Juti91: The plot bunnies ran away with me!
wazman: It wasn't a dream...but on the bright side, it wasn't Elena! As far as I remember Hayley and Hope were the only things that could kill the Hollow, I may be wrong, I'm mostly using the wiki pages and the bits I remember to cover her; I am changing it up a bit though for the purposes of drama! I'm undecided if I'm bringing any of them into the fray, but as a general rule I don't normally decide much ahead of time so I guess we'll have to wait and see! They really didn't help them out did they?
Guest: I'm pretty much in the same frame of mind! It's about time I started trying to drag it back to focus on their relationship, even if that does mean some angst for the foreseeable future! Elijah didn't have to wait long to find out...I wonder when the rest of the group will find out though!
EmpressDowag3r: I do feel bad about the baby, maybe Bex was right though!
mysticgguk: She did, what a bitch! Thankfully it wasn't our Elena; it's still quite the shock for the Original family though! I'm not sure about Hayley, we'll have to see what I come out with!
lauramorgenstern: I answered some of your questions at least, there's still plenty to think about though! Keep thinking and asking!
Guest: Damn she really did do that. I feel like to a degree just how easy it was for the Hollow is part of what makes her a real threat to the Mikaelsons and the whole of our team, RIP though! Ohh, I'm sorry about that one... I couldn't pass it up, its true enough for Elena and Inadu, I'm glad you liked it! I'll savour the chef's kisses while I can, I feel I might not get any this time round... :(
First and foremost, I would like to apologise to all of you, but I did warn you the plot bunnies ran away with the story! I was a bit stunned writing it, let alone how you guys must feel right about now! I don't think you'll catch much of a break anytime soon, but we'll have to find out together in a way!
As always, review, let me know what you think! I can't wait to hear from you all, even if you curse me to high heaven!
Until next time
~ I x