Gods & Monsters ✧ Elijah Mikaelson

XXIV ✧ Shadows

Updating again because why not

I need motivation to get this online class done aND NOTHING IS WORKING HALP

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Chapter Twenty-Four

Avarice rushed out of the ballroom as quickly as she possibly could. She didn't know what she was doing, and she didn't know why she wanted to leave so badly.

She went to the first room she found, and soon found that it was a sitting room that had been converted into a coat room. What seemed like a hundred coats were lined on racks set into rows, and she found herself wanting to hide in them.

Avarice put her hands onto a desk opposite to the door and gripped the edge, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. She wanted to hurt him. She only ever felt true rage when she was around Kaige.

In the years since he murdered the others, she found that there was a great difference between anger and rage.

Anger is what you feel when someone says something rude, or when someone belittles you. Rage is what you feel when you look a person in the eyes and wish them dead.

Avarice hadn't realized how focused she was on keeping her breathing steady and her anger under control until she heard the closing of a door.

"Forgive me," he said, his voice soft. "I... Saw you leave. I wanted to make sure you were all right."

The coat closet was right outside of the ballroom, and they could still hear the music playing.

"A long time ago, I wanted him dead. But I ran from him, and then even when I had the chance, I did not take it. Does that mean I am weak?" she asked, her eyes closing.

"No," Elijah said. "You are not weak to decide not to harm someone you care for. You are strong."

Her muscles seemed to relax at the sound of his voice, and she nodded. She turned to look at him, and saw that he was still standing in the doorway.

"I will be completely honest," she said, looking down at the ground. "I do not want to go back in there."

He shut the door. "Then you do not have to. But I will not leave you alone to suffer in your own mind, Avarice."

When her eyes met his again, she knew that he was right. She was suffering. She was in pain from an event that she had thought she had moved past years ago. But being in that castle, being near Kaige... It made those memories arise. Her heart was torn between being ripped apart from grief and being alight with animosity.

He could see right through her. Elijah Mikaelson made her feel vulnerable.

"I had been hoping to ask you for a dance, but Kaige got to you before I could. Do you think that, perhaps, we could..."

"Yes," she said.

He smiled. A genuine smile, which she knew was rare for him. Usually it was a smug smirk like the one he gave Kaige, or a fake smile when he was forced to entertain his enemies.

They met in the centre of the room, in the largest space between the coat racks. His arm went around her waist, and his hand rested on the lower part of her shoulder blade. His other hand gripped hers, while her arm went up to rest on his shoulder as she had with Kaige.

Dancing with Elijah was very, very different from dancing with Kaige. With Kaige, she was tense, and almost felt skeletal. But with Elijah, she was comfortable and calm. Granted, wherever his hand touched her seemed alight with warmth, but she was still content with him.

"You've danced many times before, haven't you?" he asked, the smile turning into a smug look.

"Indeed I have," she hummed. "A little less in the past millennium, simply because these little parties that Kaige threw would occur less and less after..."

He nodded. "I understand."

She bit her bottom lip slightly out of nervousness. "I was wondering... Who was it that told you?"

"Ajal," he stated calmly. "He wanted me to know why you hated Kaige so much. He wanted me to have an explanation, but he did not want you to relive bad memories."

She nodded, swallowing. She didn't want to look at him, so she looked down at her feet.

"You know, sometimes I wish I killed him. I think back to that night and I wish I had taken his life right then and there, but... I know that I never could."

He didn't answer, but they did stop dancing. They simply stood there, and it seemed as if he was holding her tighter than before. Closer.

"I don't know if it was because I really am weak, or because a part of me would always care about him. I hate that part."

She didn't even see him move, but then she felt his fingers move untangle themselves from hers. Then his hand was under her chin, and he lifted it so that she looked him in the eyes.

"I have met many, many people in my years. Some were strong, and most of those people had no idea that they were far more powerful than they thought they were. I have not been in your world for long, but I can tell you now that out of every reaper I have spoken to in this castle, you are the only one that I know has true strength."

She didn't know what to say, and she stayed silent.

"I wondered if you knew just how courageous you are, but clearly you do not. You have a fire in your heart, Avarice. It is a fire that lights up the entire world and it is a fire that can never be snuffed out. A wise man once told me that the most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. You may not be human, but your soul is alight."

He seemed to pull her closer, and she felt chills run up and down her spine wildly.

"So no, Avarice. You are not weak. You never have been. You are stronger than you will ever know and that is why I have admired you since the moment I first saw you."

She had wanted to reply, but she was too late. They both heard the scream coming from the doorway, and they quickly stepped apart as if they were caught in some terrible act. Then they both looked to the doorway and realized that it was not coming from it, but from the ballroom. Someone was screaming in the ballroom.

Then that one person turned into five, then ten, then it seemed as if everyone in the room was screaming at the top of their lungs.

When Avarice and Elijah fled the coat room, they were met with all of the white-eyes and multiple different terrified-looking reapers running from the ballroom.

When they looked in through the doors that the people were fleeing from and saw the shadows darting around, they knew exactly why.

The mares had arrived, and all hell was let loose.