[Fic] When You Came In The Air Went Out
The subway was an abysmal form of travel. Certainly, it was acceptable enough for the cattle with their need to rush everywhere, down under the ground, better dressed variants of sewer rats. The roads above were congested with pedestrians and taxicabs, clogged and impassable half of the time like the drains in the older buildings turned into equally tight apartments.
Elijah was not overly impressed with any of it, but Klaus had wanted to go to New York, and so they were in New York. There had been moments when freedom had lingered so close, he could feel the pulse of its heartbeat, but, always elusive it had slipped away and Elijah was not yet certain if he was upset or pleased by that.
He was on the subway because for all its disgusting squalor and stench of the worst of humanity, it did provide for a solid place to hunt. It wasn't like the docks, where nothing decent could be found, and thus darker impulses could be indulged, the subway teemed with the widest variety of humanity ever to be crammed into a small space. Tourists and students, office workers and shop girls. And the predators such a crowd drew to them.
And there was him, the predator of the predators.
It was ridiculously easy to spot them, to see who watched the innocently texting girl with a little too much interest not at all geared for asking her number. It was simple to follow them as they slipped out of the hurtling sardine cans, to flit through the shadows. The innocent prey never knew they were being followed, never heard the muffled cry, quickly cut off and lost in the shriek of metal on metal that reverberated through the city; never caught the quickly moving shadow in the corner of their eyes; never smelled the sharp tang of copper in the air under the scent of humans living on top of one another; never felt the thunk as a discarded shell hit the ground in an alleyway off the road they trod; never tasted the danger that had lurked close enough to kiss or cut their skin.
In that way, New York was far better than Mystic Falls had been.
Tonight, though, his eye kept slipping away from the predator he intended to make prey, and fixed on the innocent caught between them. She was leaning back in her seat, black hair tumbling over her shoulder, listening intently to the blond beside her. Something amused her and she laughed, tossing her hair back, exposing the whiteness of her throat with the casual gesture. Unlike so many, she didn't lower her gaze while they talked, or fix it on her companion. Instead, she gazed boldly around her, taking in the people around here with an arrogant curiosity that glistened in her strange gold eyes.
She wasn't afraid, even though danger and death lurked all around her. He could have put it down to naivety-she looked to be a college student, no more than twenty, maybe twenty-one. She hadn't yet hit a point of hardness, but for all that, there was knowledge in her eyes, comprehension of the world. She might have been innocent of anything Elijah would condemn her for, but she wasn't an innocent.
He was intrigued.
When she exited with her friend, and the dark eyed man who had met her gaze with an insolence that grated on Elijah's nerves given the malevolence pouring off him him followed her, Elijah shadowed them both. He thought to dispose of the creature quickly-he was hungry-but there was also an urge to not let her out of his sight, to not allow her to escape.
He would have to make the kill quickly to not lose her.
So lost was he in his thoughts about the girl, Elijah almost missed when the man made his move. The other girl had waved goodbye and the man stuck to the brunette like the parasite he was. Elijah crept behind them, but focused on her, and when the attack came it came fast and hard, and he cursed as he moved fast to intervene.
The girl had spun, the moment before the man struck, and Elijah was forced to a halt as the creep flew back into him. She must have punched him, or kicked him, but he hadn't seen her move. Those gold eyes of hers met over the man's head as he tried to struggle from Elijah's implacable grasp. Tearing his gaze away from her, he focused on the man, impatience and annoyance flickering through him. He couldn't eat him with her there.
He'd probably run, now. Elijah could run after him, let him get just far enough away from her, then attack. She'd be fine. He'd lose her, though, and that bothered him for some reason he couldn't name. In his indecision, he loosened his grip. The man spun and something sharp stabbed into his stomach.
“That'll teach you to be a good Samaritan,” the man spat out, his foul breath a disgrace to all principles of dental hygiene. The knife moved, in and out, again.
“No!” The girl screamed it, this time, where she had said nothing before, and the man spun away from him again, jerky like a puppet.
Elijah snarled, the pain from the stabs annoying and grating on his mood, bringing up unhappy memories. He spun him back around, not noticing the girl's frown. He caught the man's gaze, Power lacing behind his. “Put that knife somewhere more useful,” he said, low and vicious. “I suggest your heart.”
The man's eyes widened, but he stumbled back from Elijah. “If I do that, I'll die.”
“Yes.” He would have to compel the girl to forget, but that was fine, and then he would get dinner somewhere else. Maybe the docks. “Do it anyway.”
The man looked terrified, but he raised the knife. Frozen in place, the girl stood with her hand extended, fingers slightly curled in a far too familiar way Elijah noted slightly, but did not allow himself to process. Not until she was out of danger.
The knife moved, a flash in the adjacent street light, and plunged into the man's chest. He made a strangled sound, then fell, crumpling to the pavement.
Only then did Elijah flick his gaze back to the girl. “Are you all right?”
Her hand lowered from its defensive position, moving toward him. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“You made him kill himself.” She flicked a disgusted glance at the man as she passed him, giving him a little kick with a heeled black boot.
Elijah thought the shoe wickedly appropriate. “That's impossible.”
“No, it's not, though I've never seen it done so effortlessly.” Her gaze was still intent, and she kept moving closer, into his space.
“What have you seen?” he asked, refusing to retreat.
“You should get that looked at,” the girl murmured, her hand coming up to ghost over the blood on his shirt, though her gaze flickered down, confused, when she felt the smooth skin under his ripped shirt. “What...?”
Elijah moved fast, catching her chin and forcing her gaze up. “Nothing's wrong. He missed, and then...he ran away.”
Her pupils dilated, her eyes a mesmerizing mix of gold and black for a moment. “He...ran away?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, it seemed like it worked, and then she yanked back. “No, he didn't. He's right there.”
Elijah blinked. He'd never had it not work before-never.
His confusion must have shown in his face. She looked amused. “You're not the first to try to control my thoughts. I never go unprotected.”
He didn't smell vervain on her, but that didn't mean she didn't have it tucked inside of her, or was drinking it.
“You know about vampires.”
It was her turn to look confused. “...Vampires?” What else did she think he was? Her eyes widened and she stepped back from him in shock. “You're not a witch.”
Elijah had never met a witch who could compel someone, but he arched an eyebrow. Her hand had moved, but not hard enough to punch. The man had flown back with extreme force, then spun after attacking him. The strange air of knowing lacing her eyes. “But you are.”
A little head tilt, the tiniest smirk: those were his only answer. “You were watching me on the subway. And then...what? Came to save me?”
Elijah didn't respond to her question, just watched her.
“Or did you come to eat me?” she suggested, intrigued amusement flickering in her eyes.
“No.” Not that she wasn't...incredibly tempting. Incredibly. Especially the way she was tilting her head to look up at him, hair falling back from that impossibly white throat.
“Am I supposed to swoon in gratitude now to my hero?”
His lips quirked a bit. “I think you ended up saving me.” Not really, but she certainly hadn't needed his help when it all boiled down to it.
She chuckled, a husky sound that reminded him of chocolate and whiskey and sent a shiver down his spine. “I think you would have managed...what were you going to do to him?”
“I wasn't going to eat you.” His lips curved in a smirk.
The girl glanced down at the body, then back up at him with a nose wrinkle. “Eww.”
A surprised laugh escaped Elijah. “Blood is blood. Admittedly, some of the packages are more appetizing...”
“You're really a vampire?”
He shouldn't have let her know, but she was a witch, and the words came out before he could stop them. “For centuries now.”
“It seems sad that you missed your dinner on my account...” A little toss of her head, a more deliberate arch of her neck in a teasing sort of invitation.
Elijah felt his breath catch. Unbending control was something on which he prided himself, and not hurting young girls, but he could take just a taste, not hurt her...He stepped back, glancing at the body on the sidewalk. “We should get out of here before someone decides not to be a normal city dweller and calls the cops.” A disappointed pout formed on her lips, but he reached out and brushed fingers down her cheek. “Let me see you home.”
He heard her heartbeat pick up, could smell the sweetness of the power in her blood now that he was this close to her. Most witches opposed them (though Klaus had uncanny luck in forging alliances with them), and even those that allied themselves with them did not usually offer their blood up easily, or willingly. That made her an extra treat...and one in which he could potentially indulge guilt free.
Hopefully she wasn't drinking the vervain, if that was what let her resist his compulsion.
“Do I have to invite you in?”
“That's up to you.”
The girl smiled slowly and backed away from him. That same lack of fear on the subway was still in her eyes, forcing him to wonder if she was just that powerful...or had a complete disregard for her own safety. He'd no intention of hurting her, but there were plenty of others of his kind who would not say the same, who would see such an opportunity as rife with possibilities that would leave her drained of all that delicious vitality by the time the sun rose.. When she turned to walk back in the way she'd been heading, she reached out behind her, offering him her hand. “It would be rude to leave my hero just waiting on the street.”
“Well, we wouldn't want that,” he murmured, stepping to join her and taking her hand. “I don't suppose you're going to give me your name?”
“You haven't offered yours,” she pointed out with a teasing look.
“Touche,” he said with a wry smile. “I'm Elijah.”
Those strangely beautiful gold eyes of hers sparkled up at him as she started to tug him after her, away from the body which she never gave another look. “It's nice to meet you, Elijah.” She smiled as she tucked herself closer to his side. “I'm Faye.”
Elijah chuckled slightly, tugged out his cell with his free hand and texted his brother that he wouldn't be home until morning, then let her lead him away.