Past, Present & Future

9

Instinct, People say that you should trust it, right, that you should follow and listen to what it says. But what if it tells you to do something very stupid? I always prided my sense of instinct that always seemed to get me out of sticky situations, yet this time I didn't know what to think. Something was just pulling me back to that house where me and Elena were kept. Perhaps it was curiosity or maybe it was more – I couldn't be too sure but I just had to go back, no matter if I already managed to lose a fingernail whilst apparating.

It really wasn't a problem before – I still remember that day when I passed the Apparition test; I was ecstatic knowing I could travel with a single thought but then, the war happened, stripping me of the ability to do it properly. It could've been the trauma or maybe I was just too weak but to this day, I still avoided it as much as I could but all of that seemingly went out the window the moment I got myself involved in all of this mess.

A crack echoed through the air as I appeared back in the deserted house – this time without any visible marks. 

Deafening silence filled the house; the only sound came from the creaking floors as walked around, looking for anything or anyone. It wasn't long until I found the body. Elijah stood staked to the door, his skin grey and veiny and his eyes shut – the wooden stick still in his chest. I slowly took it out, dropping it on the floor before laying him down on the floor.

An unexplained sadness rushed over me as I looked at the corpse. The vampire looked calm, at peace. It was like he was human again, at least for that moment. 

I sat there for a while, wondering, thinking. I didn't know Elijah, I knew nothing about him or his life, the things he has done and the people he met, I didn't know a single thing about him but yet I did. I knew how he loved just a bit too hard, I knew how he dreaded breaking his promises, I knew how he would have done anything for his family, I knew but I didn't know why. Why did I know? How could I know? 

Time passed, the sunlight slowly disappeared behind the horizon and I was still there, in the same position. Suddenly, I caught movement in the corner of my eye. It was slight, almost unnoticeable yet I was sure I saw it. Elijah's finger wiggled, starting with the index finger, moving to the middle, to the ring and before I knew it, his whole hand was moving. His skin was losing the grey-ish tint, going back to its normal shade and he began breathing again. He was alive.

His eyes opened as his body shot up, taking a big deep breath of air into his lungs. It took a moment for him to adjust to being back alive again before he noticed my presence. 

He smiled. 

"Hello there, again." He said and I furrowed my eyebrows. I didn't know what I was expecting – actually, I wasn't expecting him to even be alive. Yes, he was supposedly an Original Vampire which are almost impossible to kill, but maybe I didn't even truly believe it, thinking that Rose might have been slightly exaggerating the whole thing but now I knew she wasn't. Elijah wasn't your everyday vampire that you could easily kill. 

"Uh, hi." I whispered. 

"I guess I have been dead for a little while. Sorry for the wait, Hermione." 

"How do you know my name?" I asked, slowly, unsurely. It was strange how all these vampires seemed to know my real name which I haven't told anyone since I had gotten to America. Not even Mason knew of it since I decided if I wanted to even try to escape my past, I had to leave everything behind, even my name – this apparently didn't make a change since all these people still knew it meaning I was just too easy to track down.

"All in due time but now, we better go." He stood up, brushing off the dust that accumulated on his suit before giving me a hand. I nodded my head in appreciation, grabbing it to stand up and following him out of the house.