"You'll remember me in a minute." Elyse didn't bother prying the stake out of his hands, reaching for the one she had thrown earlier and thrusting into his chest in the spot she knew would puncture a lung. "You took everyone I cared about and loved away, killed them in front of my eyes. Except you didn't kill one of them, you gave him to a vampire, who turned him. Perhaps I should thank you for that since it's because of that I know he's still alive." She pulled out the stake again, well aware of how painful breathing had just become for the vampire.
"His name is Elijah," She growled, tightening her grip on the stake and delivering the killing blow. The stake sank into his chest, hitting heart Elyse was sure of. His final cry of pain was the noise that assured her that he was dead.
Elijah didn’t even realize he wasn’t breathing until Maverick crumpled to the floor. Seeing the dead vampire didn’t make him feel any better. Kayla was still dead. Edward was still in pieces. He was still an undead.
But Maverick was dead, and Lilith was next.
Elijah’s eyes flickered to Elyse and he nodded at her, his lips twisting into a smile, before his reflexes allowed him to catch a wooden stake coming right at him. He knew he couldn’t stay. So with another glance at Elyse, Elijah disappeared.
They’d talk when they were alone.
Elyse met his eyes after Maverick went still, a silent thank you flashing across her face. Besides Elijah, every other vampire had been killed, their bodies littered around with the bodies of humans. Now that her number one vampire to kill was dead, she knew that she would have to join the cleanup. It was always the worst part of any fight, going through the bodies and seeing the faces of friends and acquaintances.
Cleanup and tending to the wounded took well over two hours, though Elyse collapsed from exhaustion about halfway through. When she woke up, she was being carried in someone's arms, a small group heading back towards the base. Almost always, large groups broke up on their way back in case anything happened, each taking some of the injured with them. She just curled back into the strong arms and closed her eyes, sore and hurting from all her injuries. It was only when they stopped for the night that she got up, mumbling something about wanting some time alone. No one stopped her, the looks on their faces showing that they were as exhausted as she was and wouldn't care in the least if she didn't appear back at their small camp until morning.
Elijah was waiting for her, though he didn’t know if she’d show up. It had been an exhausting day; he wouldn’t blame her if she fell asleep.
But Elyse still came, dragging her feet, looking as if she’d collapse any second. Elijah didn’t hesitate as he moved beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist and helping her stand upright.
“You should have rested,” he said to her, though he didn’t look at her. “It was a tough battle. You did good.”
"I wanted to see you and make sure you weren't hurt first, sleep can wait," She explained softly, leaning against him as soon as she was next to him, "It was definitely tough, but worth it." Elyse glanced up at him, looking away when he didn't meet her eyes. Just leaning against him was comforting, enough to let her relax for the first time and think over what she had actually done.
"Thank you," She said gently, not explaining why she had said it. It was a thank you for multiple things, for everything he had done to help get the ambush perfect.
Elyse knew she would probably fall asleep against him right there if she didn't find somewhere to sit down soon, her eyes flicking around the darkening forest until she spotted a fallen tree a few feet away. It was big enough that they could both sit down, and it was big enough that it would be a comfortable seat as well.
“I’m okay. Vampires heal quickly,” Elijah said softly. “And… you’re welcome. Thank you as well, Elyse.”
He looked at her briefly, catching where she was looking, and then led her towards it. He set her down on the fallen tree, shrugged off his jacket, and draped it over her shoulders before taking a seat next to her.
“C’mon,” he murmured, holding her against him, “sleep. You need it.”
Elyse was aware her thoughts weren't completely put together, mostly half-formed ideas thanks to her need for sleep. When Elijah led her to the tree though and insisted on sleep, she shook her head. "I don't want to sleep..you're going to leave if I do. I don't want to go back to the camp right now," She mumbled, pulling his jacket fully around herself as her blue eyes flicked up to look at him.
It was tough to fight her body's argument for rest. She refused to give in until she knew that when she woke up, Elijah would still be by her.
“I’m not going to leave you like this,” Elijah assured her, hesitantly wrapping an arm around her waist. “You can sleep.”
He really wasn’t going to leave her. He didn’t want to. Just one day, just once he wanted to hold her close for more than a few stolen minutes. He wanted to forget that she was just a human and he was a vampire. Right now, they were best friends, nothing more and nothing less.
"Fine, you're getting some sleep too though," Elyse argued, the tiniest of smiles resting on her face. Her eyes flicked closed but she didn't fall asleep right away, one of her arms hooking around his side and the other holding onto his arm gently. This time she didn't even notice his lack of a heartbeat as she settled in, more focused on the fact that once again she was able to fall asleep with her best friend. For the first time in years to be specific. And it felt great to be doing so.
Moments later, sleep washed over her and she was out cold once again.
Elijah stayed awake for a little while longer, basking in the warmth Elyse provided him. He felt her heartbeat, heard it, as well as her blood rushing through her veins. Her scent intoxicated him, but he’d had something to drink, so it was easy to handle. He gently rubbed circles in her arm, helping her into sleep. He didn’t stop even after her breathing evened out.
Soon, he followed her into sleep, holding onto her tightly as if she’d disappear when he woke up.
Elyse slept soundly through the night, only stirring the following morning when she heard birds chirping. Waking up sounded terrible though, so she sighed and tightened her hold on Elijah, trying to fall bask asleep for even a few more minutes. She knew her team would look for her soon, but she pushed the thought away so she could focus on the fact that she was with her best friend. That thought was the one she wanted.
Even with her attempt at falling back asleep, she couldn't seem to drift to sleep again. Instead, she slowly let her eyes open, though made no other attempt at moving more than that.
Elijah had woken long before Elyse did, simply content in watching her and his surroundings. It was like a dream, really. He was so used to sleeping with the thought of her blue eyes as the last thing to think of, but here she was, curled up beside him, asleep. She'd grown so much, made so many more memories, and he wasn't even in the entirety of him.
When her breathing shifted and he felt her wake, he exhaled softly.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, tightening his grip on her before loosening it slightly. "If I hadn't suggested the plan, they all would've been still alive. We would have still been together."
Elyse felt his grip tighten and she relaxed against him, listening to his words. "It's alright Elijah, you didn't know any of this was going to happen because of it," She replied, her voice soft and gentle, "We all helped plan it, it's not completely your fault. I wish I could bring them back every single day, or go back in time and tell ourselves that we should've waited one night longer, or should've left an hour earlier." The deaths of their friends was something she would never forget. It was something she blamed on herself more than anyone else.
"I was the one that made the decision to try and make a break for it when you all warned me that there was a guard change soon, I was the one that Maverick caught first," She whispered, reaching up and tracing her scar on her neck, the one from Maverick's sword as he sloppily tried to slit her throat so she would bleed out. "It's my fault more than anyone else's, you guys came out to save me." Talking about that night wasn't normally the first thing she liked to talk about when she woke up, but talking to Elijah about it let her get things off her chest. Things that she didn't like sharing with anyone else in the rebellion.
Elijah’s eyes fell on her scar, and he wondered how he never caught it before. His fingers gently traced it with ghost touches, knowing he was cold as ice, but still wanting to feel her warmth. It wasn’t her fault, he wanted to tell her. Going an hour early, or not going at all wouldn’t have changed anything. Maverick was a sick bastard. He would’ve done anything to put humans in their place.
Then footsteps from a distance caught his ears and he instantly stiffened.
“I’d better go,” he said quietly. “Your teammate is here, looking for you.”
Elyse felt his fingers trail over her scar and she wondered if he had ever noticed it before. His lack of an answer told her he probably hadn't, as well as that maybe she was the one to blame for their friend's death. It was a stretch to assume that, she was aware, but it was what she had believed herself for years now. Maybe he believed that too.
"Will I be able to see you again? Back in the woods?" She asked quietly, slowly detangling herself from him. The footsteps were something she could hear too as they came closer and she sighed, looking up at him with a sliver of hope.
Elijah looked at her and reached out to tuck a strand of her behind her ear, nodding, a hint of a smile on his features.
"Of course," he murmured, letting go and brushing his fingers against her cheek as he did so. "I don't blame you for anything, Elyse. Not even for a second. So, don't ever think you were responsible. We were children; we didn't know any better."
The voices began to get closer and Elijah, with his sensitive hearing, heard Elyse's name being shouted. He looked her again, drank her in with his eyes, then took a step back. "I'll come back for you," he murmured, taking another step back. "I'll always come back for you."
Then he disappeared, leaving nothing behind.
Except, in his haste, he forgot Elyse was still wearing his jacket.
He didn't blame her for their deaths. Thank goodness. Elyse felt relieved when he said that, and when he said they would meet each other again. That was enough assurance for her. "Stay safe," She whispered as he disappeared into the woods, getting to her feet and starting to walk back to her teammate.
"I'm here, sorry I fell asleep before I was able to get back to camp last night," She said when she finally reached her teammate, yawning to make the story more convincing and turning with them to go back to camp.
They just nodded, seeming to understand. "Where'd you get the jacket?"
Elyse hadn't noticed Elijah's jacket around her shoulders until then, but she pulled it closer around herself, "I uh, found it in the woods."
The conversation ended there as they made it back to camp and then started back off to the base again.
Convincing Lilith that he had no part in Maverick’s death was the hard part. She never told him to obey him, he was just a part of his army. For letting him die, she gave a punishment she knew would break him; she made him drain the blood of human children.
Maybe Lilith wasn’t buying whatever Elijah had given her. Or maybe she was playing her own game, trying to make him slip and give her the evidence she needed. So on the third day, when he killed the third child… he couldn’t take it anymore.
He had to kill Lilith, but he couldn’t do it alone. So he ran off to find Elyse, hoping she’d still trust him and help him, because there was only one way to break a blood link; killing the leader.
Three days had passed since the ambush, and every single one of those days had been filled with things Elyse needed to do. She had been promoted since leading and planning the two successful attacks, and most of the rebellion was calling on her to try to set more up. In reality, she was becoming a celebrity of sorts.
As much as she loved to help the rebellion grow in strength, she hated how many more people wanted to talk to her. It made it extremely difficult to be able to get outside to see Elijah.
"I need a break," She muttered, walking out of her third consecutive meeting of the day with Westly at her side, "Tell everyone I'm not going to meet anymore until tomorrow." Westly had been more than helpful the past days, toning down his training like promised, but also setting things up and keeping people from bothering her. He nodded and walked away, leaving Elyse alone as she turned her path towards the base door.
Elijah's jacket hadn't left her sight since he gave it to her, and she rarely took it off, even on a hot day like it was. She climbed out of the base with a sigh, quietly closing the door behind herself and making a beeline for the woods. Elyse didn't want anyone following her, especially as she found the spot they normally met and sat down with a sigh. Whether she got to see Elijah or not, she needed some time to herself.
Elijah didn't know whether Elyse would be there at the usual spot where they met, but he still took his chances. He hadn't cleaned himself up, he realized once he reached, as he still had blood on his clothes. Blood of the little, six-year-old that he killed. The child hadn't been any older than Elyse when they'd all been separated and killed.
Elijah hoped Elyse wouldn't be there, that she wouldn't see him in this state–blood clinging to his clothes, on his mouth, with his eyes blazing. He probably looked like an animal. Lilith's Dog, as the other vampires liked to call him. But as much as he wished otherwise, Elyse was there, sitting on the log where they'd fallen asleep together, and looked lost in her thoughts. He didn't want her to see him like this. But he'd already made his presence known, with the way the twig snapped under his foot, and he instantly whirled around.
He shouldn't let her see him for who he really was. Before he'd met her again, it was so easy to succumb to his vampire needs. There was nothing holding him back, but now there was. Elyse was holding him back, bringing out his human side, and he did not like it one bit.
Her head snapped up instantly at the breaking of a twig and it didn't take her long to spot Elijah..or at least his back. If not for his signature blonde hair, she probably wouldn't have known it was him, but that and his unusually tanned skin for a vampire gave it away.
"Eli?" Elyse said softly, a look of relief that he was here settling onto her face before the realization that she had used his nickname hit her and the look was brushed away. The nickname made memories flood back and she tried her best to push them away as she stood and walked over to him. That was what she always called him when they were younger. It felt right to call him Eli again, but she didn't know what he would think of the nickname.
Either way, she stopped when she got to him, gently reaching out and grabbing onto his arm, "Is something wrong?"
Elijah's head snapped up at the sound of the nickname. It had been years since he last heard it, especially from Elyse's lips, that it made him growl. Human emotions were so complicated. Being a vampire was the only good thing that came out of being one. He could easily close off unwanted emotions. Things wouldn't be lingering in his mind like this, maybe just a bit of regret following it, but it wouldn't eat him up. Not like this.
"Did you know that as a vampire, I can choose what I can feel and can't?" Elijah asked, shrugging off her hand and turning his head further away. "Well, most of it. Certain things just can't be controlled, but the only thing that I had a solid grip over, I'm losing it."
He exhaled, trying to get a grip on himself, not wanting to lash out. "I once mentioned that I've done things you wouldn't want to know about. I had to do said things three days in a row. And it's not even the worst I've had to do, but I just lost it in there."
She backed up a half-step when he growled, though her hand didn't leave his arm until he shrugged it off. Eli was apparently off-limits in what name to call him. Her arm dropped to her side and stayed there as she listened to him, his jacket hanging off her shoulders reminding her that he most likely wanted it back. She could deal with that later though.
Elyse had known that vampires were able to shut their emotions out, but she hadn't known that they could choose what to feel and what they didn't want to feel. "What did she make you do?" She asked, stepping to his side to try to get face to face with him, "Why are you losing control?" He seemed to be avoiding looking at her, and she wanted to know why. What could have been so wrong that he wouldn't look at her?
Elijah inhaled sharply and turned his head away again, eyes closed to try and control his temperament. He knew he wouldn’t hurt Elyse, but he didn’t want her to be afraid of him. It couldn’t be helped, though. In the end, she probably would.
“I’m losing control because of you,” he said, his breathing uneven, heavy. “When I thought all of you died, there was nothing holding me to my humanity. After a few minutes of being Turned, it was so easy to turn my back on it because there was nothing pulling me towards it. I don’t think I even missed it, not even in the slightest. But then you came back, practically from the dead, and I’ve begun losing control over a part of me that’s supposed to be gone.”
He wiped his mouth, smearing the back of his hand with blood, and finally looked at Elyse.
“They weren’t any older than all of you when I watched you get slaughtered,” Elijah ran the same hand through his hair, his mismatched eyes practically glowing. “They were all human children, and she knew out of every creature in this world, their misery affects me the most. And yet, for my disobedience, I had to do the one thing even my vampire instincts wouldn’t allow on free will.”
He was regaining his humanity because of her and meeting her again. Finding out she existed again was sparking up something she had figured was gone from him completely. And as much as he seemed to hate that it was coming out, it gave her hope that he really wasn't like the rest of them. Maybe a sliver of the Elijah she remembered was still there, still hidden, but there.
She listened carefully to what he said, not moving from where she stood until he looked over at her. There was blood everywhere. From the way it didn't come off in flakes when he wiped his hand over his face, she knew it had to be fresh. It covered his mouth and was smeared across his cheek, the deep red color she guessed wasn't from one of his kind.
Elyse hesitated for a second as she looked over his face and the scary amount of blood that wasn't his, the sight worrying enough to make her not want to know what happened. But he was her friend, and so she stepped in front of him, pushing away her instincts to leave as she reached a hand up to try to wipe away some of the blood.
"She made you kill them?" Elyse asked in a whisper, trying her best to hide the look of sadness and horror that flashed across her face. Elijah wasn't the one to blame for this, she told herself, he was following what he was told in punishment for something. He was forced to kill them by Lilith. "Human kids? Why?"
