Second best (An Elijah Mikaelson Love Story)

Chapter 4

"Hungover?" Ezra jumped through Clarissa's bedroom door, letting in all of the light and rattling everything to make noises

"I hate you" Clarissa murmured into the pillow

"Come on" Ezra shook her "it's morning and we aren't wolves, be happy, get up, dance, do whatever you want, don't waste it"

Clarissa picked her pillow up and threw it full force at her brother. "Get out"

Ezra laughed at his little sister. "Come on Clary; get the hell up"

Finally, she managed to slide out of bed and sit on the floor. She faked a sob and then glared at her brother evilly. "I preferred it when you were a wolf"

Ezra smiled "my job is done" and shut the door behind him, leaving Clarissa awake and time to get changed.

About an hour later, her black boots finally hit the damp leaves and her gaze met the morning sky, her human eyes.

They had visitors; familiar visitors. "Hey" Clarissa walked up to the new group and Ezra

"Hey" a girl replied, "just coming to say hey and welcome back, I'm Hayley"

"Hayley" Clarissa nodded "the missing Lebonair I suppose"

"Right" she turned back to the others who scattered behind her "where's Jack?" She asked them

"Right here" he came around the corner. The black hair and evil eyes made Clarissa's spine tingle in anger and fear.

"This is Jackson, my fiancé" Hayley introduced "and..." Her voice trailed off "why is Elijah here?" She started to speak to herself "excuse me"

Clarissa saw Elijah's eyes widen at the sight of Hayley. At the beginning she thought he was looking at her like that, her heart skipped, but reality set in and she stepped to the side, watching Hayley stride up to Elijah.

"Looks like the pests have returned" Jackson whispered

"Back off" Clarissa spat "you might want to keep your girl on a tighter leash" she swiped her head to one side and then stormed off. She didn't like Jackson and she knew he definitely didn't like her.

"Clarissa" Elijah called out, prying himself away from Hayley

"Hey" she turned around so she was walking backwards now, unsure if she wanted this conversation, especially when she couldn't top Hayley.

"I have something for you" he smiled "well, for your pack, but I wanted to show them to you first"

"Go on then" she bounced with a hint of excitement, twiddling her thumbs

Elijah reached into his trouser pocket and picked out a very fine ring with a black gem in the middle. Clarissa looked at him confused, why was he giving her a ring? Why was he giving the whole pack a ring

"This looks odd, I know" Elijah began to explain to Clarissa's puppy dog eyes "it's a moonlight ring; as long as you wear it, you'll be able to control when you turn and you won't have to turn every full moon"

The information did not process in her mind correctly "what?" She furrowed her eyebrows and took the ring in her fingers "that's not possible"

"Try it out" Elijah nodded

Clarissa slid the ring on her middle finger, where it shine beautifully and focussed her mind so only her hand would transform. It did. Her slender hand widened into a large paw. "wow" she exclaimed "thank you"

This was a huge relief off Clarissa; she always would worry about turning next and whether she would turn back into a human, but now she didn't have to.

When every one had their rings on, Ezra walked up to Clarissa "I saw Elijah give you yours first" he started

Elijah had been speaking to some other wolves across the camp, he focussed his hearing so he could listen to them. He also turned his body to the extent that he could see them too.

"Yeah they're neat aren't they" she fiddled with it in her hands

"I think a certain original as a crush on you" he winked and nudged her

"Nonsense" she laughed nervously "people like him only go for others like him, special people, I'm a complete ordinary wolf"

"I heard he has another thing for that Hayley, she's normal" Ezra added

"Yeah, the totally normal rare hybrid breed, queen of the crescents, missing Lebonair, mother to the rare witch/wolf/vampire hybrid baby which is also daughter of the original hybrid, totally normal" she scoffed

"Well he's been staring at you ever since he got here, must be my mistake" Ezra nodded over to Elijah who immediately burned around

"He might have been, but it's obvious, to him, people like me will always be second best" she shrugged "plus I've only just met him" she added a joke tone onto the end of her serious statement to ensure that Ezra knew she didn't like Elijah

Just then another wolf came screaming out of the woodland. "Help me please"

"Ezra go" Clarissa pointed to the woman, Ezra took off and knelt down beside her, she was babbling something nobody could understand.

"Who did this to you?" He asked her

All she did was point to the woods, blood came running from her forehead and from everywhere else.

"Those bastards" Clarissa muttered to herself. She vowed that if she ran in there quick enough, she would find them and she would murder them.

"Clarissa!" Ezra exclaimed when he saw her run into the forest until she was no longer in sight. He couldn't leave this wolf, she was absolutely distraught. But he couldn't allow Clarissa to go in there, he couldn't risk her getting hurt.

Ezra turned to Elijah from across the camp, he looked concerned just as much as Ezra did.

Ezra nodded to Elijah and told him to go and help her, giving him the permission he wanted; but even if Ezra had not told him, he would have gone in after her. He just needed to make sure everyone was okay first.

"Clarissa?!" Elijah shouted, trying to pick up any heartbeat or breathing

His hand found a tree where he had smelt blood. Smeared over it was what he had guessed, the Crimson liquid. But whose was it? He couldn't hear anything and his senses had been dulled down.

She's there. Her body swaying as if she was about to fall down. What had happened? Was this Dahlia?

"Elijah" she sounded dazed, her eyes glazed over, she tried to step to him but almost lost her balance

"Dahlia" she whispered before failing into his arms, unconscious.