Gods & Monsters ✧ Elijah Mikaelson

XXXIV ✧ Kill Them All

Chapter Thirty-Four

They were all in silence for a long time. Elijah was pacing, Aspin and Freya were sitting against the wall, Klaus and Rebekah were sitting across from them, and Levi, Ajal, and Robert were standing in a circle talking about what they would do when Kaige asked.

It was a long time before Aspin suddenly jumped up to her feet with eyes wide. She turned and looked back at the door, then tried her absolute best to restrain from not rushing into the room herself.

"What is it?" Klaus asked, leaping to his feet. He had been sitting against the wall, but now he was rather eager to see Avarice.

"She's back," Aspin said, seeming both eager to see her friend and horrified to see what she had done. "I can feel her."

The door opened rather slowly, and Ajal, Robert, Levi, Aspin, and the Mikaelson's all stared at it in anxiousness. They all had a feeling of what they would see, but it was even more horrifying to actually witness it.

The light didn't quite hit her until she came out of the reaping room, and it was clear then to all of them what had happened.

Her face was completely expressionless, and pieces of her hair were matted together and fell in front of her eyes and cheeks. The blood wasn't only on her face, but also on her shirt and pants. It had been splattered all over her, but the most disturbing part was the blood that coated her hands. It looked like it had been rubbed off, but then she had given up.

The Mikaelson's were all surprised, especially at their own reactions. They had been surrounded by death and pain for their entire lives, and yet, they were scared. They had become so close with Avarice in the months since they arrived, and it hurt them to see her do something that each of them knew would have a terrible affect on her. She would be hurting after this, and it was up to them to be there for her.

"Avarice?" Aspin said. "What happened?"

Even though Pin clearly knew, or had at least assumed, Elijah knew that she just wanted an explanation.

Avarice blinked, but didn't meet the eyes of any of them. It seemed as if she was in a daze. She seemed... Numb.

"Three vampires attacked Hayley and Hope."

Elijah didn't miss the rage that appeared in Klaus' eyes.

"I killed them."

That was the last thing that Avarice said before she walked down the hallway. Aspin, Levi, Ajal, and Robert seemed horrified. It was likely that none of them had ever actually killed someone either.

Avarice had explained this to Elijah many times. When it came to the reapers, they assisted those that died. They helped them along to the next place that their souls would go. They had never killed anyone. They were surrounded by death, and yet, none of them had ever been the ones to murder someone.

Until now.

Everyone was too shocked to even follow behind Avarice.

"Elijah," Pin said when she finally snapped out of it. Then he turned to her, blinking rapidly while trying to understand what to do. "Go after her."

He simply nodded once, and mentally made a note to thank her later for snapping him out of the daze he had been in.

*

The water was so hot. She didn't want to cool it down, since she was too busy watching it wash away the blood. The stains were coming off now, but Avarice had a fear that the bathroom was going to smell like iron and rust forever.

Her thoughts kept going back to the feeling of holding their hearts in her hands. She remembered putting a hole through the chest of one of them, being so angry and so protective of Hope that she skipped from getting him away from the child straight to killing him instead.

She had not been thinking straight. She simply wasn't in her right mind when she had killed them, and with the numb feeling that was running throughout her entire mind and body, she was fairly certain that she wouldn't be for a long while. She tried to pull herself out of her own horrific memories to focus, but it was difficult.

She stepped out of the shower and dried herself off, then slipped on a button-up shirt and a pair of shorts. She then tried to dry her hair. She dried it about halfway, but then she couldn't take it anymore.

Avarice hated losing control. Feeling vulnerable was something that she despised, and vulnerability was ALL she could feel.

When she opened her eyes again, she looked in the mirror. Her eyes looked slightly puffy from when she had cried only a few hours earlier, and her throat ached from screaming in the forest. Her hair was damp,and it clung to her dark skin.

She looked in the mirror and realized that the door to the bathroom was open. And what's more, Elijah Mikaelson was standing in it. He had a look of concern on his face, and his hands were in his pockets.

She didn't look at him for a moment, and looked down at the drain in the sink instead. She got flashbacks to how red the water had been when it went down the drain in the shower, and immediately squeezed her eyes shut.

She heard his footsteps coming closer to her, and then his cold hand was on hers. She didn't realize until then how much she had craved his touch. She had felt as if her skin was on fire, and he was the ice that saved her.

Avarice didn't want to look at him. She felt ashamed of herself.

But then again, he was an Original.If there was anyone that would not judge her, it would be him.

She turned to face him, and when she saw his arms lifting, she dove in. She embraced him tightly, and he wrapped her up and held her against him. She could feel the tears coming, but she didn't bother to wipe them away. When he held her, it made her feel content. His arms were like a wall that surrounded her and protected her from the monsters she herself had created.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice cracking and shuddering.

He was silent for a long time, but then reached up to stroke her hair softly.

"You're going to be all right, Avarice. I promise."

She remembered him telling her that when she had a fever. He had been there in her darkest of times, and he knew her vulnerabilities. He knew that her world was dangerous and unforgiving, and yet, there he was. Holding her as she cried for the ones whose lives she had taken.

The light shines in the darkness. And as long as he was there, the darkness would not overcome it.