Elijah's Eternity (COMPLETE)

Chapter 23: The Anticlimactic Battle

By: eternityunicorn

The dawn came sooner than Elijah wanted. He had spent the remainder of the night lost in Eternity, whom currently lay beside him. Neither of them slept, as neither of them had wanted to. Instead, they cuddled close with Eternity laying her head on his chest while he stroked his fingers through her hair lazily. They lay there in quiet bliss, not wanting to begin the day that pressed them to break their happy contentment.

Alas, as with everything pressing, eventually reality had to set in.

Elijah kissed Eternity's head and informed her that it was time to rise. She protested with a groan and refused to move from his warmth. He chuckled at her, understanding her reluctance completely.

"Sweetheart, we have to get up," he murmured to her.

"Getting up means leaving to face the darkness," she mumbled back, "and I'd much rather stay here in the light."

Elijah chuckled again, "I didn't know you were one to blow off your duties."

Eternity shrugged, "There's a lot you don't know about me...yet."

"True," he kissed her head once more, "but still, we need to do this. We need to go to Niklaus and stop him."

"Ah, from what I know of your brother, he's always up to something diabolical. Maybe we should let someone else deal with him."

"We cannot and you know it."

"Aye, we can."

"No, Sweetheart."

Eternity lifted her head to glare at him playfully, "I am of higher rank then you and I can easy use my authority as queen to command you to stay here with me."

"You could, but that doesn't seem like something you would do," Elijah countered. "In fact, ignoring your responsibilities doesn't seem like something you would do either. Besides, this helping Niklaus business is all your idea. We could have stayed in Maine."

With another playful grumble, Eternity relented, "Fine, fine, I'm getting up, but I am not at all pleased with it."

She rose from the bed with her usual grace then and the moment she was on her feet, Eternity's naked form was covered by a simple turquoise dress. She turned to look at him curiously, waiting for him to rise as well.

Elijah had lounged while watching her get up, admiring her beauty in the early morning light. Then he swiftly followed suit in climbing out of bed, once he saw she was dressed and looking so expectantly at him.

He went to the small closet and selected a suit to wear. He chose a mid gray one with a matching waistcoat. Once he was fully clothed, Elijah escorted Eternity out of the room.

They had to go downstairs to inform the Mitchells of their abrupt departure from the bed and breakfast. Along the way, they had agreed that if all went well with Niklaus, then they would return to help the old couple out just as they had promised they would. A day's help wasn't enough and they both liked staying there with the Mitchells. Why not use their promise as an excuse to return to the place they otherwise wouldn't come back to?

Mrs. Mitchell was in the kitchen cooking up the morning meal as expected and Mr. Mitchell was sitting at the kitchen table with the newspaper and a cup of coffee. When the pairs saw them in the entryway, they each smiled warming and invited them to join them for breakfast.

Reluctantly, Elijah told them that they couldn't and then explained, "We have to leave. There is an emergency in California that we must see to."

"Oh? And what might that be?" Asked Mr. Mitchell from his seat. Concern colored his gravelly voice.