Nothing Dark Can Stay, Either

Chapter 72

It seemed Hope wasn't the only one struggling to sleep.

Beatrix was worried sick.

Klaus had gone to fetch Roman Sienna. Hope had gone to take a nap while she waited. Beatrix had attempted to sleep, since she had been knocked out several times and now she felt exhausted.

Of course, her thoughts were keeping her awake.

Worry.

Klaus was going to encourage Hope to be more violent than she naturally was. Aside from that, the darkness was going to eat her alive. Beatrix, more than anyone, knew how awful it would be for the tribrid, and she didn't want her to experience that pain.

Sadness.

This sucked. Hayley shouldn't have died. Hope needed her mother and it was absurd that she wouldn't get to have one during the most important years of her life. Beatrix wished there was a way to resurrect Hayley, but she knew it didn't work that way.

Anger.

Stupid Greta. Stupid vampire purists. Why did they deserve to exist when they just harmed innocent people? They'd crashed Hayley's funeral and it was so utterly disrespectful that if Hope hadn't been in danger, Beatrix would have let her blow up the other black van.

She spiraled down to more negative trains of thought. It was hard to stop herself from having morbid visions of Hope's hypothetical death running through her head. She wracked the depths of her mind for a solution. She tried to meditate. Do some spells. Cook up some teas. Nothing was working. She couldn't fall asleep and she couldn't figure anything out.

So naturally, her mind decided to make her remember the randomest thing it could.

Elijah.

"Dance with me."

She furrowed her eyebrows. She was practicing some spells while he played the piano. "If we dance, the music will stop."

"I can put something on the phonograph. We have one of the first Edison models either way. It'll be good for us."

Beatrix smirked. "Oh, alright. But I choose the song."

She went to the phonograph and put on a song similar to the one Elijah had been playing. He closed the lid of the piano and came over to her, delicately putting one hand on her waist and taking the other in his. He started to sway her gently. Beatrix leaned her head into his chest, inhaling his scent.

"I love you," she whispered. "So, so much."

He kissed the top of her head. "And I love you. So much more. I wish..." he trailed off.

She looked up. "You wish what?"

He bit his lip. "I wish I had met you first, instead of Niklaus," he said quietly. "I wish I had been the one to... to turn you. Since the day I first saw you, your beauty has had me transfixed. I should have made a move before either of my brothers had the chance."

She giggled lightly. "We're together now, darling, you know that, right? It doesn't matter what history I have with your brothers. I love you. And I want to be with you."

"I would have liked to be the first simply to protect you. I think, perhaps, if we had met first and I had sired you, I would have traveled the world with you, to keep you safe. I know you endured many things in that time. I could have kept you from being hurt by Niklaus."

"Shh, Elijah," she said, bringing a hand up to touch his face. "Let's not look back on the past so much. In the present we are together and that's what matters. I want you, not anyone else."