Curse of Ravens // Mikaelson

20 You Tell Me (unfin)

When I returned to Mystic Falls, Mum first brought me to the Mikaelson mansion, and I invited her inside. I expected her to tell me that I shouldn't keep the place, that however I had obtained it was probably not legal and that it was wrong on some moral grounds that I didn't share with her. But instead, Caroline simply looked around and told me she liked how I had preserved the place.

She said I would be allowed to go there if I didn't have classes and still made curfew. I suggested that rule shouldn't be too hard to follow. Without making any promises I would uphold it. I did not like breaking my word, and I doubted I would never break curfew again.

It was a ridiculous expectation. But my Mum did not have to know about every rule I broke if I wasn't caught. And from now on, I needed to be extra sneaky about it.

Upon returning to school at the time of day where classes had already ended, I quickly unpacked a few things in my shared dorm room with Hope, and then sat on the bed for a few minutes, debating on what I should do.

The first thing I should have done was announce my return to my sisters. Hope wasn't in the dorm, so I suspected she was in the common rooms, and I should also find Lizzie and Josie there. Secondly, I should drop in on Castor and Michael, to see how they've adjusted to their new positions. Then, begin my plan with my so-called pawns. Aleksandr and Anastasia needed to be reminded that I remembered them, and their mother's proposition.

But I had little motivation for any of that. Instead, I sat on the edge of my bed, and thought about Xavier.

Someone not important to my plans at all, and yet consumed so many of my thoughts. I tuck loose strands of my hair behind my ears, and close my eyes, imagining being in that meadow with him. I remember the feeling of his fingers on my skin, his teeth in my neck, his breath on my lips. I remembered the weight of him at the blood feast in our fleeting refuge from the party, a moment of quiet and candlelight.

There's a gentle knock on the doorframe and my eyes popped back open, head turning to the door.

"I am a little offended you did not seek me out the moment you returned." The vampire in question says, leaning against the wall with his arms casually crossed. I tilted my chin up.

"Maybe I was waiting to see how long it would be before you came looking."

Xavier's lips twitched, and he walked over to me. As he did, I waved my hand, and the door shut behind him. He looked down at me, not taking a seat beside me but rather standing a few feet away. "You have blank walls, that of orphans and loners." He made an observation of my half of the room.

"Who's pictures do you hang?" I wondered neutrally, and his dark eyes held my gaze in an ever intense staring contest that felt like he saw through me. But my words reflected how much that was a two way street.

"In this moment, are we slowing down, or speeding up?" He asked softly. I stood up and took a step closer so that I could feel his breath on my cheek.

"You tell me." I prompted in a whisper. The vampire reached up and pulled two pins out of my hair. The locks unfurled from the braids. Xavier set the items to the side, and returned his attention to me, threading fingers through my hair so that it laid in waves on my shoulders.

"What is it that you want?" The vampire tilted my head up with his thumb on my chin, fingers caressing my neck. I part my lips to reply and he gently shook his head. "Not just in this moment. I refer to your life. What do you want?"

"Who says I want anything? Can I not live moment to moment, as you do?"

"Darling Alice, you are too ambitious to settle in the present." Xavier leaned closer, and his rosy lips brushed mine as he spoke. My breathing deepened, and I brushed my fingers along the waistband of his pants.