Darling, you wound me.

V

"Why are you doing this for me." She asked about 20 minutes later, out of the blue.

"You gave me my humanity back, it is the least I can do. I want to help. I don't want you to end up like I was. And I'm quite intrigued by you. Now you tell me, why did you agree to come along, knowing everything I have done?" I asked, not really sure if I wanted to hear the answer or not.

"I have seen how people change when you turn their humanity off. But I have also see what they were like when it is on. I'm not going to lie. You used to scare me, but I knew you had it turned off. Now that I see you with it on, your the complete opposite, I can see the good in you. I like it." Hearing the words come from her mouth made my undead heart swell with pride. She could see the good in me. She could look past the monster I had become.

"Thank you." I spoke, never thinking I would say those words again. It was so low that if she had not been a vampire, she wouldn't have heard it. She reached over to where my hand was sitting on the shift knob and put her hand over mine.

I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through my hand up my arm. I looked at her quickly, knowing she must have felt it as well.

The rest of our journey was quiet, but her hand remained on top of mine until we arrived. It was such a simple gesture, but it meant a lot. We pulled into the drive at my home. The last time I had been there was in 1912. Then Nik daggered me and left me in a box for a hundred years. I still had the same look as when I left. Elijah had told me that he kept a maid there at all times, taking care of it if I was to ever return. Only he knew of its location.

"This is your home?" I heard from her as she looked out the window. It was a big house but not as big as Nik's.

"What can I say, after being alive for a thousand years you tend to gather an accumulated wealth." I joked, even if it was true.

"It's beautiful, I definitely didn't expect it." She said, still gazing at the house. It was Victorian style, brick, a large archway leading into the gardens.

"Would you like to come inside or do you wish to gaze at the outside for little while longer? I assure you it's much nicer inside." She quickly nodded her head and followed me to the door. I opened it with the key I kept with my car keys.

As we walked inside, I heard her gasp. Everything inside was wooden, very elegant. A spiral staircase leading upstairs. I took a deep breath in, noting that it was exactly how I had left in 1912. It felt good to be home.

The maid immediately came to the door and was surprised to see us.

"Hello, I am Kol Mikaelson, the owner of this property, and this is Elena." She immediately introduced herself as Lucy and was completely shocked at my age I was guessing.

"Forgive me sir, it's just that you look so young. With a house like this, I was expecting much older." She said.

"Ah, yes, it has been passed down in my family. Now it has been passed down to my girlfriend and I." I glanced over to Elena and saw the shocked expression on her face when I said the word girlfriend.

"You have a beautiful young lady there, treat her well." The older lady said, I smiled and looked at Elena again.

"Always." I said as the lady excused herself and I began to show Elena around. As soon as we were out of earshot of the maid, Elena looked at me accusingly.

"Girlfriend?" She said laughing.

"What, it was either that, fiancée, or wife. Which would you prefer?" I laughed. "However, we do need to change your name soon." She looked at me quickly.
"Part of the plan for your hiding, I'm afraid. Don't worry, love, it will all be pretend." She had looked worried but it quickly faded into a smile.

"So I will be your 18 year old pretend wife?" She laughed, I laughed as well.

"Yes, darling. You forget that in my time it was a custom to get married very young. Even in the present, it is more prominent to get married straight out of high school." I told her. Hell, it was the truth.

"Were you ever married?" She asked in a shy voice, looking away.

"No, I was betrothed but we were turned before the marriage could happen. It was an arranged marriage anyway and she was a complete bitch, if I may say so. I'm glad it didn't happen. I never wanted an arranged marriage." I told her, moving a strand of hair out of her face. I felt the shock again as my hand touched her face. I quickly pulled away and began to show her more of the house. We stopped at the master bedroom.

"This will be your room, if you would like it." I said sheepishly, it was my room, but it was bigger than the others and I wanted her to be comfortable.

"Let me guess, this was your room?" She asked, i was amazed at how quickly she caught on.

"Yes, but I will gladly stay in one of the others." I told her, completely truthful. She smiled up at me and I couldn't help but wonder why. "What?"

"So we are supposed to be getting married and you plan on sleeping in a different bedroom? Lucy would notice. If I am going to be in hiding, we might as well keep up the story." Well I was shocked to say the least. Definitely wasn't going to turn it down though, I may be a thousand year old vampire, but i was still a man.

"And what do you propose we do, love?" I asked with a devious smile.
"We need to act like a couple. The little things are what people notice." She said sheepishly. I grabbed her hands and backed her up against the wall, then put my hands on her face. I moved forward to where my face was only about a centimeter away from hers.

"You mean like this?" I whispered right before I pressed my lips gently to hers. It was a soft, but I could feel the electricity pulsing where our lips met. I slowly pulled away, honestly not wanting to. It had left her breathless, I could feel her heart beating loudly.

Her eyes were still closed as I opened mine. I had kissed many girls before, mainly before feeding from them. But this was nothing to compare to anyone else. So many new emotions surged through me during the kiss, no matter how brief it was. She finally opened her eyes and looked into mine.

"I could get used to that." She said quietly, covering her mouth as soon as she said it. I chuckled at her innocence.

"I know I certainly could. Why don't you make yourself at home, and I will go have Lucy buy us some clothes." I said as I walked back out the door to find Lucy.