Chapter Text
WHEN YOU LIVE FOR OVER A THOUSAND YEARS, LEGENDS BEGIN TO EMERGE. It was Elijah's belief that each legend was more ridiculous than the last. Many claimed the originals were more than two thousand years old, and their origins were greatly debated. While his brothers Klaus and Kol fed into the legends, creating a few of their own, Elijah was similar to his older brother Finn in the respect that neither of them liked the attention. Finn never wanted to be regarded as a God; however, this was something Elijah began to use to his advantage in the last three hundred years.
He became something he hadn't been since he first turned, oozing arrogance and holding little regard for human life. For two hundred years, everyone believed him to the noblest of the Mikaelson's. The kindest, more merciful than his siblings. When the feud between the two brothers began, Elijah became everything he had once strived to change; the one thing separating him from his brother became the characteristic that made them so similar. Elijah was often regarded as the demon with the face of the angel, for he used a façade of faux benevolence to manipulate people and gain control of situations, but beneath the façade was a sinister side, and many had died after the revelation of his true nature.
Witches were powerful creatures. Elijah realized their full potential when he had gone into hiding three hundred and fifty years ago; befriending a circle of witches worked in his favour as they shielded him from his siblings while he formulated a plan.
Out of all five siblings, Elijah believed in the mating bond more than the others, and it was because of his older brother Finn who had told him stories he had heard on his travels. Finn never stayed with the family for long, barely staying by their side a hundred years before taking off on his own, but he always had time for Elijah, who he believed had the most potential than the others, not fully succumbing to his cravings. While Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah claimed it was all a fairy tale, Elijah and Finn liked to believe, there was something out there for them to look forward to. The person they were meant to be with forever.
Klaus knew his brother was still the same romantic he was when he was human, and it didn't take long before Elijah heard of his plot to lure him out of hiding. Klaus wanted to use a coven of witches to find Elijah's soulmate using the mating bond, a tricky spell, but the members of Klaus's coven were centuries old, and if there was a spell for such a thing, they had the strength to perform it. The spell would allow them to speed up the process; instead of their paths crossing spontaneously, Elijah could find her in minutes.
When he heard of his brother's plan, Elijah realized he had officially hit a dead-end; this was Klaus's last resort. Lure Elijah out into the open by threatening his mate, then end their feud with his death. Immediately Elijah gathered his circle of witches to perform the spell to find his mate. He endured excruciating pain, but he believed it was worth it. He had waited for over ten centuries, and now in the year two thousand and ten, he would find her. But Klaus's coven was stronger, and Elijah's circle could only locate the town in which his mate resided.
The first step was sending his sires, a group of vampires he had turned over the years, to the small town to feedback information about the people there. When Elijah heard there were two vampires in town already, he was far from pleased. The Salvatore brothers had made names for themselves for all the wrong reasons.
Once his sires did observations, Elijah arrived in town, and the witches cast a final spell that acted as a compass that would help him find her. He had often let his mind wander throughout the years about the moment he finally found his mate. The reality, however, differed immensely.
When he arrived in Mystic Falls, he followed the strong pull to an abandoned house three hours away from the town. The paint was peeling off the walls; there were no carpets and barely any furniture. The Original looked around in revulsion. This place was unworthy of the mate of an Original vampire.
Elijah followed the sound of voices upstairs, and when he reached the landing, a strong scent was traveling through the house. Fresh blood. And a pulsing heartbeat.
"Human." He murmured before he vamp-sped to the doorway of the room, where the scent was strongest. He took quick notice of the two vampires, who he concluded had kidnapped his mate, judging by the wary stares she sent them. The male vampire had shaggy brown hair and tattered clothes; his skin tinted a light grey due to underfeeding. The woman's skin looked very much the same, and from the way she strode around the room, he knew she was in charge. Her clothes were dirty, and her short hair was messy, which led Elijah to quickly conclude the two vampires were on the run.
"There's someone in the house." She looked at the male vampire worriedly, glancing at the brunette they had captured hours earlier.
"We should run, Rose."
"I'm tired of running."
Elijah stepped into the room, his footsteps causing the three of them to look at him. "Your friend is wise. You should listen." His eyes flickered to the brunette, awestruck by her beauty. Veins appeared under his eyes as he looked at the wound on her arm, inhaling the scent of blood in the air.
"It can't be." Rose breathed in disbelief.
In a split second, he was at the bottom of the staircase, and Rose gasped when she saw the older vampire, recognizing him from a portrait painted of him during the eighteenth century.
Elijah smacked the man's head off his shoulders, and Rose screamed, horrified as the body fell.
"Trevor!"
Elena gasped, taking instinctive steps backward as Rose mourned her friend. Elijah walked by the trembling woman as she sank to her knees, and Elena held her breath as the mysterious vampire approached her, his presence demanding authority.
Elena gasped when Rose growled and vamp-sped toward the man who didn't blink as he grabbed her throat, snapping her neck. The brunette backed away when he turned to her and held her hands up when he approached her.
"No, no, please, don't -"
Elijah grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, staring into her terrified eyes for a moment before leaning down to smell her neck. Her heart raced, her chest rising and falling rapidly, a small whimper leaving her lips when he smelt her neck.
Elijah met her gaze with a smirk on his lips, "Hello there."
Elena stared up at the towering figure before her, her heart hammering in her chest.
"You..." Rose seethed, rushing to Elijah, who didn't flinch as he turned to grab her neck when she lunged at him. Elena gasped, taking a step back, tears in her eyes as he slowly pushed his hand into Rose's chest, whispering in her ear, but she could not hear it.
"You dare harm a hair on the head of my mate."
Rose's eyes widened in shock, not knowing the connection. Her eyes closed when Elijah ripped out her heart, letting her body fall, and tossing her heart aside. He reached into his breast pocket, taking out a black handkerchief, wrapping it around his hand before wiping the blood away.
He heard the small creak of the floorboards and lifted his head, hearing the sound of scraping metal. She was picking up a poker from the fireplace. "I would advise against doing that."
Elena raised the poker, and when it was inches from his head, Elijah turned, catching the poker and taking it from her hands, grabbing her arm. She winced from his grip as he glowered down at her.
The sound of glass breaking downstairs caught his attention, and when he looked at the brunette, he noticed she looked hopeful. Who else was coming to rescue her?
"We should be on our way." He pulled her along, and Elena whimpered from the pain in her arm. Elijah led her outside the room, and Elena was blown closer by someone running by them using vampire speed.
Elena smiled when she heard Stefan call out, "Up here."
Elijah turned to look up the stairs, raising an eyebrow when he saw a boy of eighteen.
"Down here," Damon called out.
Elijah turned and received a stake in his hand, courtesy of Damon. He released Elena to remove the stake, and Stefan appeared behind her, placing a hand over her mouth while he vamp-sped out of sight.
He slowly moved his hand, and Elena hugged him tightly, thankful he had arrived when he did.
However, their moment didn't last long, coming to a screeching halt when Elijah called out, "Excuse me. To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can't."
Elena closed her eyes when she heard the sound of wood breaking. He was making stakes.
"I repeat, you cannot beat me. So I want the girl, on the count to three, or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"
Elena felt Stefan place something in her hand and looked down to find a grenade. She looked at him, nodding, understanding there was vervain inside. She licked her lips anxiously before stepping out into view, looking at Elijah, who was now at the bottom of the stairs.
"I'll come with you; please, don't hurt them. They were just trying to help."
He vamp sped up the stairs, appearing before her in the blink of an eye, causing her to flinch. His brown eyes observed her warily before his gaze hardened when he couldn't read her. All he could do in her presence was admire her. "What game are you playing with me?"
Elena clutches the vervain grenade in her hand tighter. Damon and Stefan bouncing anxiously, waiting from the side lines, both silently urging her to throw the bomb.
Elijah leaned closer, smelling her neck, and Elena closed her eyes, finding the strength to go through with it.
"That better not be -"
Realizing he could smell the vervain, she quickly stepped back and threw the grenade at him, and it exploded seconds later, the vervain burning his face. He turned his head, not flinching, and her eyes widened when his skin healed almost immediately.
He took a step toward her, an animalistic growl leaving his lips as he grabbed her arm, pulling her to him. "That was not a clever thing to do." He heard Damon holding up the weapon, and Elena gasped when he shoved her against the wall, her eyes widening when an arrow went through his chest a second later. Elijah tilted his head in annoyance, tearing out the arrow, and Damon tossed the weapon aside while Stefan appeared in front of Elena, rushing to tackle Elijah down the stairs.
Elena ran down the stairs when Elijah recovered quicker than Stefan, and before she reached the last step, Damon staked Elijah, causing him to fall at her feet. His outraged eyes met hers before they closed, and Elena stared for a moment, feeling a twinge of sadness that she quickly dismissed as she ran to Stefan, hugging him tightly.
Stefan smiled, taking her hand as he led her outside to Damon's car. The two young vampires were foolish to believe this was the end. When the sun went down, the Original vampire's skin started to gain color, and his eyes snapped open. He tore the stake from his heart and crushed the wood with his hand.
Elena dreamt of him waking up from her bed and leaving the house three hours from Mystic Falls with a steely look in his eyes. The brunette woke up with a gasp.
It wasn't over yet.