Who: Elijah Mikaelson & Katherine Pierce When: March 1 Where: Elijah's apartment What: Elijah's been avoiding Katherine and she's done with it Rating/Warnings: Mediumish?/Talk of vampire stuff and dead people Status: Complete when posted
See, Katherine had a reason to avoid the Mikaelsons right now - all of them, Elijah included - after the entire shitshow of dreams that dropped anvils and anvils of emotional baggage. Five hundred years before the next attempt to break the fabled Sun and Moon curse, it was her doppelganger blood that was meant to be used. Not just a drop, not just a pint.
All of it, ‘til death.
It was why Trevor introduced her to Elijah. It was why Elijah, in turn, introduced her to Niklaus, handing her over on a silver platter all buttered up. One look at the innocent lamb and the lions knew, and Katerina (the doe-eyed exiled village girl) had a pit of dread form at the bottom of her stomach early on. Yet she did her best to be polite, charm the brothers with her hopes for love and free spirit, and while she was meant to be courted by the youngest -
It was the oldest she developed an attachment for.
I do not believe in love, Katerina was what Elijah had told her.
And in turn, her reply had been embarrassingly naive but back then, in that life, when her innocent was still maintained, she believed them. Life is too cruel. If we cease to believe in love, why would we want to live?
Then it all came to light, what he and Klaus were, what the curse was, what their plan was for her - the sacrifice, the ritual of three parts (vampire, werewolf, doppelganger). Fear filled her veins, and fear turned into a plan for survival. There was one other component to their plot, one that was inanimate, the thing the curse had been binded to.
A smooth, translucent stone. A moonstone. The moonstone.
What Elijah had described came after that. Katerina had taken the stone and fled, the the hunt for her began through the woods with Trevor (the poor man, he was in love with her but she only saw opportunity, no room for sympathy) until shelter was found. Rose snuffed out her hope to escape, wanting to hand her over, which drove her to complete desperation and a plan on a whim. Stab herself, drink their blood to be healed (god forbid Klaus’ sacrificial blood bad died prematurely), and right when they were distracted?
Noose around the neck. Step off the wooden chair. Crack, went her neck. From death to transition, and the transition to bloodlusting immortality. To thinking she escaped, survived, and could be reunited with her family in Bulgaria after she had escaped her pursuers had revealed itself to be one terrible mistake. Slaughter was the only thing that greeted her.
So, yes, after all that? A Mikaelson was the last kind of person she wanted to exchange words with. Katherine wasn’t one to air her distress to everyone and their mother, nor was she about to post about her woes and festering dream-related crap trauma on an open forum for all to see. They agreed to make sure the other was okay while they traversed through this, but how to approach him when he was the root of it? How to approach it when he wasn’t even answering any of her texts?
Arrive at his apartment, unannounced, human, and bristling. There were no knocks, but she’d been leaning against the doorframe with her finger pressing the doorbell over, and over, and over, and over, and if she kept scowling this much she may actually develop wrinkles prematurely.
After turning, things had been so...different. Everything felt like it was so much more and Elijah was still trying to adjust to it. He didn’t trust himself at all. His emotions were out of whack and feeding. That was a whole different thing. He had agreed that feeding on humans was probably the best way to learn control, but it hadn’t turned out spectacularly. It had only gone well with Ezio because he felt something for him. He didn’t think he could have personal relationships with the people he fed on all the time, though. It seemed like a bad idea.
So, yes, he had avoided Katherine’s texts and work. He’d called in claiming he had the flu after going in for one day and having to leave early. Wanting to eat the people that worked with you and had come into the museum was not a good way to exist. So he wanted to get it together before he was able to be around people. Especially Katherine. He couldn’t look after her like this.
Elijah knew that it was Katherine at his door. He’d have known even without the annoyingly persistent doorbell ringing. Sighing, he made his way to the door. He hadn’t opened it yet and she hadn’t gone away yet, which meant she probably wasn’t. When he opened it, he stared at her quietly for a moment. “Katherine, what a surprise.” The words fell flat and his normal sass seemed quite absent. He’d tried, though.
Patient as he was, even Elijah couldn’t withstand that constant sound ringing through his abode after a while. At least she did him the favor of stopping once the door was opened. “You know how to answer someone at the door but not your phone,” Katherine remarked, words doused in annoyance - chocolate eyes were narrowed too, fiercely. It’d be what Damon would call angry kitten, but the angry kitten didn’t know she was in the presence of someone distinctly inhuman.
It also meant there wasn’t a drop of fear when she brushed passed him, uninvited into his home, yet she hadn’t cared for him to step up and take on the role of hospitable host. “Is there a reason why you’ve been avoiding me? I’ve got a pretty good one, but I’d like to hear your logic first. What’s your problem, Elijah?”
He took the words in without saying anything for a long moment. He already felt guilty, but it seemed these things were amplified. “I’m...not quite myself,” was the easiest thing to say. He knew he looked just the same, but the daylight ring on his middle finger wasn’t just because he’d developed an affection for jewelry. He rubbed at his face, trying to ignore the smell of blood. “It’s not a good idea for you to be here, Katherine.” It wasn’t a good idea for anyone to be there, but he couldn’t stop all of them. Clearly. Kol and Rebekah were the only people that were safe, but that was another complication. Ezio was...Ezio. He got to be one of the special few. The only human one of the collection.
But being vague never seemed to work for Katherine. “I’m a vampire. Since Saturday when I woke up. I’ve just been trying to deal with that and I didn’t want to...I didn’t…” He gestured vaguely, sighing before stepping back. It was her choice whether or not she wanted to come in. He was just going to have to practice self control.
Oh.
What?
Katherine froze in her strut inside, having already dropped the Louis Vuitton purse on the nearest end table when his words shattered her expectations. Vampire was a word that made her heart skip a beat - it also quickened her pulse, a sign of skyrocketing nerves and fright.
But there was always something about her that came off as…calculating. Cold. An exterior so frigid that even fear had a hard time breaking the surface and her turn was slow, rich chestnut curls pushed back over her shoulder. Her eyes weren’t so sharp now. They softened but now more than ever she was on the alert.
“Elijah, I -” What to say to that? There was a knot in her throat that felt like hundreds of glass shards lumped together. It was pointless to ask if he was okay because he wasn’t, and his reason for avoidance was obvious. Had he fed? Killed? What the hell had their lives even become that it was now a concept? “What can - is there anything I can do?”
That sass, that anger, it had melted for now. Back to the lion’s den, wasn’t she, but this time without the influence of the maniacal brother.
Elijah watched her quietly for a moment. He was always hungry as far as he could tell, but somehow drinking made it easier, so he poured himself a drink and decided to focus on that instead of the desire for blood. He had to prove to Katherine that she was safe, but he also had to prove to himself that he was at least in a little bit of control.
She’d always been good at hiding her feelings, but he could tell that what he’d said had an affect. She’d frozen in place before turning to look at him. Even the daggers had receded. He felt out of sorts, but so far he hadn’t killed her, so he felt like that was an accomplishment. A fucked up accomplishment in the grand scheme of things, but an accomplishment nonetheless.
“Don’t…” He paused for a moment before saying, “Nevermind. I somehow get the feeling you aren’t going to listen if I tell you not to worry, but then I can’t exactly blame you for that. I’m worried about myself the majority of the time.” He pinched the bridge of his nose before taking a sip from his glass. “I don’t know if there’s much help. I’m...trying to get used to it. To everything.” He wanted to tell her not to overestimate her ability to control herself. “I’m not…” He couldn’t say that either. “I don’t want to hurt you. This is one of those few...exercises in self control things I was trying to avoid, but since you’re here…” He shrugged. “I’ll understand if you want to leave, of course.”
Phantom pains and sensations had doubled since her dreams - the echo of bloodlust, how sensitive everyone was when vampirism became a reality. Every sense was heightened, every emotion going through the roof. Fear turned into nightmarish terror, sadness to uncontainable grief, anger to blinding rage. Katherine remembered it like she lived it, but she wasn’t actually living it. Not now, and from the way things were going?
Not yet.
Inhaling a deep breath of air seemed to calm those hidden nerves, and her shoulders squared in determination. “I’ll worry,” she answered decidedly - don’t ever waste words on telling her otherwise, Elijah, but Katherine was well aware she had to play it careful. She was sharing space with a supernatural apex predator (an original one from her dreams because, oh yes, she learned that nugget of information too) and his appetite was a delicate one. God forbid she had a papercut. “And I’m not leaving. I know you don’t want to hurt me, so let’s treat it like it like practice.”
A bold step was taken in needle-heeled boots.
“I’ll be an incentive for control. I spend some time with you -” Could she even bring up what she dreamt in this state? Maybe she should hold her tongue and not poke the beast. “And it’ll help with…adjusting. Okay?”
It was much the way he’d expected. Katherine, much like Ezio, seemed difficult to make run in the opposite direction. He wanted to be pulled together, the way he was around Kol and Rebekah, but it was more difficult to turn things off. Well, according to others, there was a way to turn it all off, but he fought against that. He didn’t want to stop feeling. He just wanted to be able to control it better. At the moment, he wasn’t entirely certain of it being something he could do, but he was trying.
“Leave it to you to be stubborn,” he said, but his voice was quiet. Even as it concerned him, he couldn’t push away the feeling of gratitude. She had no reason to be here and, if things were the way they looked in the dreams, he found himself surprised by the fact that she was here in the first place. “Of all the things I expected to need to practice, being around other people wasn’t one of them.”
Just to be on the safe side, Elijah poured himself a little more to drink. It was strange how something that would normally make things worse made them a little less so if you were a vampire. At least he never had to worry about destroying his liver. He didn’t have to worry about anything, actually. “Okay. We’ll practice.”
Most of her trusted Elijah. Honing the skill of restraint in regards to ripping their jugular out and drinking them dry wasn’t something she thought she’d do with him today, but she also couldn’t - and wouldn’t - let him eat her dust as she walked away when he was going through something like this. Those wrathful vestiges of the girl that’d be hunted and felt betrayed settled, and now?
Well, she mostly felt drained from it. It wasn’t his fault. There was nothing he could do, not a component he could control, but the hurt felt was amplified tenfold as Katerina, the brand new orphan creature of the night.
“No one’s perfect,” she huffed, attempting a mock smile to be a tiny bit playful. “Here, when I thought I could be angry with you - and even was - you manage to make me not. Pour another glass of whatever you’re drinking, Elijah, because I need it.”
Relief filled him in an instant and Elijah felt a little lighter. He had few friends he trusted outside of his family, but Katherine was one of them. The idea that he could allow Klaus to do anything he wanted in the dreams seemed unusual, but it was no less confusing than wanting to kill him. He'd made light of it when he'd talked to her about it, but he didn't feel light about it.
He gave her a small smile before grabbing another glass and pouring her some of his best scotch and handing it over.” It was the least he could do.
“I'm sorry to do anything that could make you angry with me. I know I can't take it back, but I wouldn't let him do that here. I won't do that to you. To Elena either.”
No need to ask what the poison of choice was - she remembered his tastes, and knew he hadn’t gotten this liquid courage from the discount bin at the local liquor store. If Katherine was going to get a little blitzed on the side it would be quality booze, none of that well crap.
It was gently swirled in the glass as she thought. In retrospect, his apology was fucking stupid. Why apologize for anything that happened in some twisted version of their lives during an era where modern plumbing wasn’t even a thing? He had no control of himself, of Klaus, of whatever decisions made even if the consequences of those actions could carry over. Harboring resentment was redundant, but that was easier said than done.
Katherine reveled in control. Yet here, with all this happening, she found herself having less and less of it. Not when the life she lived as a Petrova tried to wedge over the line of realities as if it all mattered here. “You know, then,” she began, nutmeg eyes pinned on him. “Klaus’ plan on taking all my blood for his demented plan, and because I foiled his plans by making myself become a vampire. No more magical doppelganger blood, until another one showed up. Hence Elena.”
Elijah may not have had the best of everything, but there was no point in buying cheap alcohol. He wasn’t a university boy or in high school, so he didn’t have to punish himself with terrible alcohol anymore. He also didn’t need to punish others with it. Unless his parents came over. He had the cheaper stuff hidden away for whenever they made a visit out of the blue (or even planned). He would share the good stuff with Katherine, however, because he figured she needed it as much as he did.
Ridiculous apologies were Elijah’s thing, as was apologizing for his siblings and attempting to act as if he had any control over them or their actions. It was, unfortunate as it was to admit, one of the things he’d never be able to let go of. He had a feeling that the further into the dreams he got, the more dysfunctional everything would be. Especially in regards to his siblings. He had never been very good at stepping away from his family.
“I know,” he agreed. “I heard it from Elena, but I imagine I knew it before then.” He imagined he should have known a great deal more things, but he didn’t remember all of it. Centuries of information was lost to him, but he wasn’t stupid. Just blind to his family for the most part. “You didn’t want to know about that, though, so I didn’t tell you.” He frowned a little. “Kol suggested turning the rest of our family if they don’t start dreaming soon enough.” The displeasure regarding the idea was evident in both his expression and his voice. “If I wasn’t already being driven to drink by the fact that I’m suddenly a vampire, he might drive me to drink...heavily.”
If Katherine had her way she wouldn’t need to know any of this - she’d be back in her outrageously overpriced apartment in Los Angeles, auditioning for fragrance commercials and slipping on the latest fashion trend surrounded by a glam team. This wasn’t what she had in mind for a pause in career. Drinks had been a goal, but not over a discussion like this.
And Kol’s shit suggestion had her fingers tighten around the glass.
“Let me guess,” she tightened her eyes, and annoyance shot out of them like lasers. “Becoming a walking bloodsucking parasite that betrays the laws of nature is a game? No big deal? I may not be one here, but I have the memories of becoming one and -” Katherine had to take a sip of scotch before continuing. “Why would he put anyone through that?”
Elijah couldn’t blame Katherine for her reaction. Not even knowing entirely how being a vampire was in the beginning, he couldn’t imagine the idea of taking away their decision, of making them into a creature not even he wanted to be. “It is not something I would choose for them. I hope none of them discover the dreams or what they are in for, but if they must…” He found himself sighing. “Well, I hope they will not be rushed into it. I never would have…”
His gaze dropped to his glass and he downed it quickly before pouring another. “Well, we may be centuries old, but it doesn’t change the fact that we have no idea what it’s like to become something so suddenly. I was misguided in my thinking I would have more control over it than I do.” He was just glad that he hadn’t been overcome with Katherine around. He was glad she hadn’t been here right after. Even if now was still a struggle. “The idea of inflicting it on them…” The feeling overwhelmed him for a moment and he closed his eyes against it. “I couldn’t.”
It hadn’t exactly been a choice for Katherine, either, when it happened to her. It was the last resort. It was the only thing to do to ensure her survival - suicide with Rose’s blood in her that triggered the transition and leveled the playing field. A little human couldn’t have survived going up against two originals and his fangy minions, and the old woman she had murdered to finish it? She wasn’t proud of herself, but -
Better she die than her.
“You’ve always been the more sensible one out of the bunch,” she told him. Her heart told her to take a step closer again, but her brain threw wrench of logic into that feeling. Don’t tempt the bloodsucker. It was enough practice for him that she was even there, with her beating heart and veins full of human blood. “And I’m assuming you haven’t told your idiot brother about…this. You shouldn’t. Not until you get the hang of it, because it sounds like Kol’s filled to the brim with dumb ideas.”
Elijah allowed something that bordered on being a laugh but didn’t quite make it. “Well, someone has to be sensible with everyone else in the mix. But then I don’t think I’m all that much better in the long run. Just as willing to sacrifice people as the rest of them.” At least in the dreams. Outside of them? He wasn’t sure. Yes, he’d killed. More than once. He felt the guilt of it pressing down on him, but he couldn’t just stop. He could be like others and drink from a blood bag, but Ezio had been right to say that he needed to learn how to drink without killing and being strictly from a blood bag was not going to help him.
“No. Not yet. Ezio knows.” Elijah frowned. “He was there. In the morning.” He didn’t go into detail because he didn’t think it was necessary to really explain what he meant. As confusing as everything was, it made his feelings there a little more confusing, but only because he’d known how it felt before and how it felt now was stronger. Everything felt amplified and he couldn’t really explain it properly. “He disposed of a body for me.” He frowned again. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about the wrinkles now. “And he even came back after that. I admit I was surprised. He saw my face and everything and I sort of almost killed him a little.” Elijah hadn’t enjoyed that part. “To be fair, he was the one that offered...and I gave him some blood to make it better.” And then they’d had sex, so there was that. “Needless to say, I’m impressed that he’s willing to stick around after that mess. If that’s not enough for my siblings, I don’t know what is.”
A pause. “I did warn him about not doing anything stupid for a while, though. But then he survived jumping off a television tower into a cow pasture, so he might just be sturdier than he seems.”
Sad thing is, Ezio sounded like he could handle Elijah like this more than his own family could - he sounded stubborn, willing to endure whatever this meant for them, and for that, Katherine was...thankful. Thankful that he hadn’t been alone, thankful that he had someone who wasn’t running elsewhere even after the almost-murder and then covering up the actual murder.
“You’ve got yourself a good one,” she said, leaning against the armrest of the sofa with the scotch still mostly untouched in her hand. Not that she didn’t want to drink it, but at the moment it was best for her to process with a clear head. “Don’t let your siblings wedge their way into something good and poison it for you - they don’t always know what’s best for you.”
Especially of Kol’s suggestion was ‘let’s turn our family so we can be one big happy vampire family.’ That meant he was at full capacity, vampire-wise - and she’d been mouthing off to an original vampire, how nice.
Now, that brought them to the next related topic. One that was about to have her maybe drink whatever was left in the glass in one gulp. “Is this - is this what we all end up becoming, if that’s what we dream about? Vampires?”
Because that meant she’d become one, too. She was next.
The amusing thing about the situation was that it was Kol who had pushed him into taking flowers to a stranger. That meant that Kol was the only one he had to be upset about if he decided he didn’t think Ezio was good enough. As far as Elijah was concerned, there wasn’t going to be any getting in between them right now, but he knew the person he was and the person he’d been in the dreams. “I’ll do my best. If I’m lucky, there won’t be a problem. Kol practically picked him, so if he really has an issue, he only has himself to blame.” He smiled a little. “Though, he has constantly told me not to talk to you and I haven’t listened, so perhaps there is hope for me yet.”
There was a long sigh. “But I can’t keep avoiding him and Rebekah. I’m fairly certain they’re already suspicious enough as it is.” He’d just...have to figure out how to deal with it. Especially the part where Kol was happy about it.
Katherine’s question distracted him from his own problems, however, and reminded him that other people were dealing with similar things. The ever looming promise that one would eventually become what they didn’t want to become was always fun. “Well, I can’t say for sure, but Rebekah, Kol, and the Salvatore brothers at least are vampires. And Caroline. I believe even Lexi is.” He gave her an apologetic look. “Perhaps fate will smile on you and you will avoid it.” But he didn’t really believe that. “But, if it happens…” When it happened. “I will be there for you. We will figure it out. Together. We can go for blood bags if you want, but if you are trying to learn self control, they are, unsurprisingly, not very good at helping with that.” It was the reality of the situation. “You don’t have to go through it alone. Not here. And I don’t know what sort of message the others are spewing, so I like to think I’m the best choice. Of course, if you prefer their message, I guess I can only do so much.”
That’s a lengthy list of vamps, wasn’t it - and she knew about a werewolf running around too, one that shared their dreamscape centuries later. Jeremy had been changed too, and now it was a ticking time bomb of when she’d join the fray and would he understand from that why she wanted to flee?
Then again, how the hell does one put this behind them? It’d always be in the back of her mind, and then she’d always worry about Jeremy’s safety. Elijah’s, too. It was like being stuck with invisible shackles and Katherine had to swallow her drink, all of it, in one hearty gulp that burned all the way down and spread warmth everywhere, even if it was just temporarily.
“I think I might need another one since you practically offered to be my vampire mentor,” she breathed, mouth still tingly from the scotch, and she set the empty glass aside. Would it happen overnight like it happened to him? Katherine wasn’t sharing her bed with anyone unless it was a fling here and there - and now it’d be dangerous to do so. “I don’t know, Elijah. I trust you. You’re the only one out of all this I trust completely. And who knows what’ll happen on my end but for now, just…”
As quick as she leapt into the conversation, she wanted out. “Let’s focus on you.” Her arms crossed over that cleavage, because of course she’d be dress nothing below stunning and casually provocative. “You’re going through this now. And if you and your man thing need me to help you through this in any way, well. You have my address. You know my number. But you’re done avoiding me. Understood?”
Elijah knew Katherine well enough to understand that she wouldn’t want to walk into it. But then he hadn’t wanted to walk into it either. He wanted to avoid it. It was new considering he always met things he disliked head on. This...well, it had been another thing entirely. He hadn’t run away from it, but he’d hoped to avoid it by just not wanting it to happen enough.
Giving Katherine a hint of a smile, he took her glass and poured another drink before coming back and handing it to her. “Well, considering your other options…” He studied her casually for a moment, observing her posture and the fold of her arms over her chest. She was shutting the conversation down before they really talked about it, but he didn’t argue with her about it. If she wanted to avoid it for a while longer, could he really blame her or force her to look at it?
“Yes. You’re understood.” Even with all the uncertainty lingering around him in regards to this, he couldn’t help the way his lips twitched upward. “Stubborn and bossy. Quite the combination.” But he was glad that she still wanted to be around him. All things considered. “Thank you,” he said after a short pause. “You don’t get to avoid me anymore either. Even if I might understand it a little.”
“The correct term is ‘bitch,’” she smiled a little, too, not even a hint of a smirk - a sincere gesture like that was rare but it happened. “It’s a deal, Elijah.” As long as there were no diabolical plans to use her blood to break a curse, anyway, but she knew it wasn’t likely to happen here.
Not when the doppelganger blood was on limited time.