SHE PROMISED ( the originals )

0041. I'M MISSING, DEAL WITH IT

SHE PROMISED
( part two, chapter forty-one )

SHE HEARD A KNOCK ON THE DOOR and she slowly moved towards it, peering through the peephole. She let out an annoyed sigh and swung it open, putting a hand against the doorway to prevent the hybrid from stepping into her apartment. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Elle," Klaus said. He looked frustrated, his hands clenched tightly in fists. "I need her help." Although he knew that Davina would help to save Kol from being devoured by vampires, all of whom were locked in the Abattoir, he needed Elle. She's one of the only witches that he trusts, that he might ever trust.

"Well, she's not here," Cordelia snapped and turns to shut the door.

Klaus, however, placed his hand against the door and kept it open. "Well, where is she then?"

Cordelia lets out another annoyed huff, rolling her eyes. "How should I know? I'm not her secretary."

"You're her sister."

"No, she's your sister." Upon seeing Klaus' eyes widen, Cordelia said, "Yeah, that's right. I know. Or at least that's what she said. Listen, hybrid, I don't know what kind of con you're playing with Elle 一"

"This isn't a trick, Cordelia," Klaus said but the witch shut him up.

"Don't talk to me like we're friends!" Her eyes are narrowed in a hateful glare and she leans on her left leg. "And I don't care if this is a trick or not. Elle is my sister, adopted or otherwise, so she means a lot to me. Yeah, I may be really pissed at her but at the end of the day, we're family. So if you piss her off or I find out she's in any kind of danger, you and your whole family are on my hit list. Got it?" She barked the question aggressively, which made Klaus want to smirk but he doesn't.

"I understand," Klaus said. "But that does beg the question 一 where is Elle?"

"Gone," Cordelia said simply.

Klaus' face turns hard, like stone. "What do you mean she's gone?"

Cordelia shakes her head. "There's this one place she always goes to when she's upset. Sometimes she's there for hours or maybe even days."

"Then why haven't you gone to find her?" Klaus demanded. "You have magic, you can track her!"

"Don't you think I've tried? The first time she did this, we tracked her down and brought her back. The second time, she got smart and cloaked herself and her place. I don't know where it is but it's somewhere by the bayou."

"But why? Why does she go there?"

"She goes there when she doesn't want to be found."

☆ ☆ ☆

Elle had found her comfort in a small cabin just on the outskirts of the bayou. She found it the week that her adoptive mother had died, when she had run out of the city and deep into the woods. It was so small that it could've been mistaken for a shack and had wood so rotted, she was sure it would come apart any day now. She assumed that it was a cabin used for hunting.

When Elle arrived at her place, she pushed the door open and it creaked loudly. She plopped her backpack down on the ground and rolled her shoulders. She moved to sit in the old wooden chair; one of its legs was shorter than the other three so she had shoved a book under it to keep it level, but it still tilted.

She grabbed her camera, which hung around her neck, and raised it to eye level. Her cabin was typically where she took her photos; sometimes it'd be inside or outside, close ups of the furniture or the room, or sometimes she'd take pictures of the sky or the setting sun shining its golden rays through the trees.

This place was often her safe haven, where she found her refuge. She'd run here many times to escape her horrors at home but when she'd returned...

Elle shivered at thinking of that, trying hard to ignore the cold feeling of hands touching her legs. She stood up and decided to take another picture, this one of a sleeping bird, who had built its nest on top of the old wardrobe that resided in the corner. She was a bit confused as to why it wasn't awake yet but she didn't question it.

She jumped when she heard her phone go off. She let her camera hang from her neck and checked her phone, seeing that Klaus' name popped up on the screen. Elle pushed the red button, ignoring the call and placing it back in her pocket. She knew that she should answer, tell him that she didn't want to talk and would be at her safe place, but she didn't. Cordelia could tell him, even if she didn't like him.

Besides, he was bound to find out she often did this. It was really a matter of time.