The Devil In Me - Elijah Mikaelson -

Chapter 22

Amelia and Elijah went back to New Orleans as quick as they could. They just wanted to get as far away from the devil as possible, but still both of them knew that the Quarter was their home. 

Awkwardness filled their relationship since they got back together. They nearly didn't speak a word with each other, whenever one of them opened their mouth to speak about their feelings, something interrupted them, or they just didn't find the right words to describe it. So it turned out that their longest conversation were about the rainy weather of the city. 

Some weeks had passed and nothing had changed. This morning, they laid together in their shared bed and just stared at each other. Elijah was afraid that he somehow could hurt her. He knew that terrible, unsettling things must've happened to her. But she seemed so strong, still they couldn't get back to normal. If he would've have the courage to ask her about it, to be her shoulder to cry on, to stand by her side, as he had promised her at their day of marriage, maybe she would open up to him. That's the point where he noticed that the couple really didn't know each other that much. They had a very special connection, but they skipped the part of actually being together before getting married. Elijah didn't know if it would be good to talk to her, or to just leave her alone with her thoughts. 

Amelia on the other hand was afraid of telling him what happened. She feared that he would leave her if he knew that his father had taken her...in that very special way that was reserved for her husband. The situation was so messy, none of them knew a way out of it. 

As she spent less time with Elijah as she actually would've wanted to, she distracted herself with connecting to his family. Since she was back, the rest of Mikaelson's had taken her in the circle of their family and Amelia couldn't be more happy about it. Niklaus was grateful that she helped him saving his beloved Caroline, Rebekah and Freya had become her friends and she even got along with Hayley. Hope was Amelia's special light of the day. After a lot of talking with Hayley, the mother allowed her to teach Hope magic together with Freya. It worked out very well, as the little girl learned to control her strong powers. 

It was also Rebekah and Freya that Amelia opened up to. Still, the heretic hadn't really processed it. She talked about the rape as if she was a bystander, as if it had happened to someone else. The sisters knew that and urged her to Elijah, because he was the person Amelia trusted with her life. Of course she knew that some day she needed to. She just needed some courage to do it. 

After staring at each other and waiting for one of them to talk for nearly an hour they got up. Strangely, a certain comfort of each other's presence had taken in. Both of them felt the best when they were around each other. Elijah had developed a nearly ill protectiveness, only allowing Amelia out in company of either him or one of his siblings. Amelia didn't bother, because she still assumed Lucifer behind every corner. Moreover, they both grew more and more into the roles of a married couple. They shared their bed and bathroom, not bothering to change in front of the other and Amelia fitted perfectly into a member of the family. Adding to the lectures she gave Hope, she had taken a liking into cooking. 

That's what she did every morning after getting up, she went down to kitchen and started to make breakfast for every family member present at the compound. Sometimes even Marcel joined as he had grown closer to Rebekah. 

As she prepared some scrambled eggs, she suddenly felt Elijah's arms wrapping around her waist, which surprised her, as it was more showing of affection than in the last weeks. He didn't even dared to touch her, because he was afraid that she would break right in front of him. 

Amelia lightly giggled as his breath tickled her ear. Elijah pulled her closer to his chest and kissed her cheek from behind, enjoying the sweet scent coming from his wives perfume, mixed with the smell of the nicely done food. 

"That looks lovely." 

The heretic couldn't resist the finally somehow playful mood, she didn't know what changed his mind, but she liked that he was acting normal. She quickly turned the heat of the pan down and turned around hin his arms.

"What? The food or me?" 

He caressed her cheek and smiled in cause of her words. Her look wasn't close to carefree, but it seemed that she started healing. Elijah stared into her beautiful brown depths and couldn't resist leaning down and kiss her. Amelia's lips opened, hungry for his kiss. It had been so long since they shared such a moment, it felt like salvation. Both of them noticed how much they missed this, simply being together, being like normal people, aside from being a heretic vampire and an Original. 

"He raped me." 

Amelia suddenly blurted out when they broke the kiss. She regretted in when she felt drawing back into his cautious state. He even took a step back in shock. His eyes were wide. This was what Amelia had been so afraid of. Never would he look at her the same. He always would see of Lucifer and her together, even if he knew that it wasn't her fault. 

"Please, don't go away from me." 

She desperately grabbed his hands and pulled her back close. After all those weeks, tears flooded her eyes. She hadn't cried over what happened since she was freed. The tears spilled over and wetted her cheeks and Elijah decided to pull her closer to him, allowing her to cry into the fabric of his shirt, but more importantly, he stood by her side while she finally accepted that it happened to her. Now she would be able to heal. But deep inside him, Elijah knew that he needed time process it himself. He didn't know how to feel about it. 

The vampire stroked her hair until her sobs faded and kissed her forehead. 

"I'll never leave you, Amelia. I...I just need time." 

He looked torn, nearly desperate. Elijah knew that she needed him right now, but he was afraid of himself. Since Lucifer was on earth, his own actions sometimes became unpredictable. 

Amelia felt a whoosh of air when he disappeared. Feeling like being on autopilot, she grabbed herself plate of the scrambled eggs and started eating, her glance staring holes into the wall facing her. She hadn't had any tears to shed anymore, she felt so empty. 

"He'll come around. It's just hard to accept for him that he isn't able to get revenge or protect you properly." 

Rebekah appeared in the kitchen, she must've heard everything. She took a seat next to Amelia and took the fork from her that had started to scrape against the empty plate. 

"I know. But still, I need him more desperately than I should. I need to live again, Rebekah. This is senseless." 

The blonde vampire smiled gently and squeezed her sister-in-law's hand. 

"We don't need men for that. Come on, we should go shopping or something." 

Amelia was grateful for having her. She never had any real friends in her thousand years of lifetime, it felt good to have someone like her. 

"Thank you...I'll just..." 

The heretic stopped speaking when she felt a sudden sickness in her stomach. She looked at her friend confused and held her belly, before storming into the bathroom and puking all the food she ate out. Rebekah was next to her and held her hair back. 

Amelia sank down on the cool floor and shared a glance with the Original. She knew this feeling all to well. The heretic vampire had felt it the last time when she was still a human.

"This can't be happening..." 

She whispered.