Beauty and A Beast (ON HOLD)

Chapter 11

Throughout the entire car journey, Elijah didn't say a word. He didn't look at me, say anything and proably didn't breath either. He simply stared at the road as we drove through the darkness; his eyes showing that he was deep in thought.

When he stopped outside the Gilbert house, I was almost tempted to say something, to ask if he was alright. But, looking at his hands and seeing them tense, though obviously not very hard as the steering wheel stayed intact, I thought against it.

I watched as he drove away in his slick, black Mercedes, trying to understand everything that had just happened yet, going through the past hours events in my head, I could only remember dark brown eyes and how they had made me squirm under their stare. I felt my pulse beat faster but not in the 'our eyes met across the room and we instantly fell in love' way, but in the 'I feel violated and I want to destroy the thing that made me feel like that' way. Disregarding the way Elijah had acted towards Kol's proximity to me, I knew Kol was dangerous. I couldn't explain how or why, maybe it was even an Elemental thing but, what I did know was that there was no way I looked forward to our next meeting.

I had barely reached the bottom step of the porch when the front door flew open to reveal a disheveled Alaric and a shocked Elena. Without speaking, Ric ran towards me and picked me up from the ground, holding me tight against his chest. 'God, I thought I'd lost you!' he breathed as he stroked my hair; my arms trapped against his chest.

'Ric, relax. I'm okay. No bruises or bite marks!' I wheezed as I struggled out of his grasp. Once he had put me safely on the ground again, he held me at arms length, scanning me.

After a minute, he looked up and met my eyes. 'Sorry. I just had to be sure.' He smiled at me with worry and care in his eyes before they drifted to my neck. Immediately, I reached for it but Alaric grabbed my hand before it reached. He leant forward and gently dragged his calloused fingers across the line where I was cut, causing it to sting at the slight pressure. 'What happened?' he asked with fear in his voice.

'Don't you think it would be better to take this inside? After all, we are vamp bait out here,' I said, trying to laugh but it just came out weak and futile. Ric continued to stare at my neck for a moment, not in the way a vampire would but as though he were examining it, before he shook himself out of the trance. He gave me a weak smile before dragging me up the steps and into the house where Elena was waiting.

'Thank God you're okay!' she breathed as she enveloped me into a hug. By the time she had let go, Alaric had shut the door and was halfway across the hall to the kitchen. 'Damon called me the minute the dinner was over. He said that Elijah was keeping you prisoner!' Elena exclaimed as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me to the kitchen.

As we walked in, I saw Alaric making three cups of what seemed to be coffee. He placed them on the table before pushing me gently into a chair. 'Alright. Before we go into what happened, we need to sort out your neck.' He turned round and walked to the cabinets, rifling through them in a flurry of panic. As I reached for my cup, I saw Elena slowly sit down with a worried look on her face.

'He doesn't mean a vampire bite. I just got...kind of scratched,' I said with a weak smile as Alaric slammed the First Aid box on the table in front of me.

'Looks more than a scratch to me...' muttered Alaric as he took the seat to my right, opening the box to search through it, pulling out bandages and antiseptic wipes.

'Ric, I'm sorry but, no matter how bad the scratch or whatever is, I'm not wearing a bandage.' The minute I said it, Alaric looked at me with serious eyes and tight lips. 'Wearing a bandage round my neck, despite the cause, will make people look at me weirdly. Especially if they know about the vamps.'