Enigmatic Fears: A Klaus Mikaelson Story {7}

Chapter 13: Call You E

~Elijah POV~

The brunette woke up on the bus, dishevelled and disgruntled as he wearily walked off of the bus. He stopped at the door, looking out to the unknown hellscape.

"You know where you're going, hun?" The bus driver asked him.

"I...I need food." He managed to say.

"Chicken and waffles, two miles up the road." She told him. "Good lucky, honey."

He nodded and headed for the nearest petrol station, idly walking towards the smell that drew him in. As he stumbled towards the store, a concerned attendant headed towards him, somehow making him hungrier than he already was.

"Is there a problem?" The man asked.

"Do you hear that?" The brunette replied. "That noise?"

"You look like you could use some help." The man told him with concerned. "Is there anyone I can call for you?"

But it fell on deaf ears as Elijah leapt at the man and attacked him, following his impulses until he pierced the man's neck and drained every inch of his blood.

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A week had passed, and Elijah was still trying to get his bearings. All the killing he had done continued to take a toll on him as he walked through the streets of New York city, still no memories attached to him.

The smell of blood had drawn him to an alleyway where a woman stood, silently drinking from a man's wrist. She smiled and wiped the blood from her mouth as the man watched idly.

"Ah damn it, it's in my hair." She sought to extract the blood from her dark locks when she finally took notice of him. "Who the hell are you?"

"I thought I was the only one." Elijah moved closer to her and a flash of recognition shone in her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"Are there more of us? Wh-Where do we come from? What... What are we?" Elijah continued, causing her nerves to increase.

"You need to go." She insisted.

"Please, I need you to help me."

The woman rolled her eyes before turning back to the man she was feeding on. "You should go and find your friends. Tell them you needed some air."

"I needed some air." The man replied mindlessly before walking away.

"You." She groaned before heading out of the alley, beckoning for him to follow her.

"You're going to help me?"

"Against my better judgement." She muttered with a roll of her eyes. "You hungry? For regular food at least."

Elijah nodded his head and allowed the woman to take him to a diner. She sat him down at a booth as a waitress came up to them. The smell of the woman's blood fogged his nose and the sound of her blood pumping clogged his ears.

"Hey, eyes on me!" She told him, drawing him out of his thoughts. "Two smokehouse burgers please."

The waitress nodded before going off with their orders, taking the struggling thoughts away from Elijah.

"So, you got questions?" She offered.

"Many."

"Ask away."

"What happened to us?" He asked.

"We died." She answered to his horror. "But someone really wanted to keep you alive. Do you know what a vampire is?"

"Kind of. Like folklore." He explained.

"No rumour didn't start from the truth."

"Is there a cure?" He asked.

"I guess, somewhere." She replied with a shrug. "You want it?"

"Don't you?"

"Not in the slightest." She said with a small laugh. "Drinking blood is a small price to pay for all the other perks."

"Hm."

"Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"What do you remember?" She questioned. "Parents, siblings? Being turned? Anything?"

"Nothing at all." He answered to her surprise. "Six days ago, I woke up on a bus and I was starving. I had to feed on this man and...I killed him. How could anything be worth this?"

"New approach." The woman rapped her knuckles against the table and turned to Elijah with a small smile. "A human heard a couple thuds. But you...you heard the varnish split off the wood. Tiny staccato echoes as the sound hits pockets where sap once flowed, and the thunderous boom of the metal legs vibrating against the floor. To humans, it's just noise. To us, it's music."

A weary smile found its way to Elijah's face and the woman shared the warm gesture with him.

"So, you really have no idea what happened to you?" She asked again.

"There's a shadow of something." He began, haunted by the faint memory. "I... I think I can see a man. And he is saying my name, but I can't remember my name. And I cannot remember this man's face. But when I woke up, I looked at my cufflink and it had the letter "E" engraved on it, so I guess maybe it begins with "E." Edmund. Elliot. Eleanor. You pick."

"Well there you have it. We'll just call you, E." She said as she held out her hand for him to shake.

"And you are?"

"I...I'm Odessa."

"A pleasure to meet you Odessa."