You Don't Know What I'd Do For You (Love you like oxygen)

seven

*A/N* Sorry this chapter took forever, hopefully the next one will be better. Let me know about any spelling or grammar mistakes. I would love to hear your thoughts on this fic, as always, your support means the world to me. Here, we get another piece of Elijah's past and finally get to become more acquainted with the infamous "Beast." Enjoy and don't forget to vote!

Elijah POV

The time dragged by endlessly, I had no idea how long I had been here but it felt longer than an eternity. Mikael came in and out of the room constantly, each time a new method of torture was explored and with each passing session his hands became crueler and crueler. It was so oddly familiar it almost hurt. Mikael had always been the abuser, the front of every attack. But Esther was the mastermind behind the entire operation, not just an idle enabler but also quite literally the force that kept the curtains closed on the atrocities. Finn, as always, had yet to make any sort of appearance, not wanting to have anything to do with this horrible excuse for a family, not that I can blame him for that in the slightest.

My clothes were tattered and stained red, repeatedly being exposed to the sun and doused in vervain had done quite a number. Bits of bloody, raw skin peeked through all over. The lack of blood in my system made the healing a slow and agonizing process. Anything that was even partially stitched back together was immediately torn open again with another bucket of acid or drag of a knife or flash of sunlight. The more my body kept on trying, the weaker and weaker I became.

Already, I was collapsing as far down as my restraints would allow, hanging limply by my wrists. My eyes were left bleary and scorched with streaks of blood running down my cheeks like tears from numerous poisons and chemicals. I had several broken ribs and with every rough jostle it got progressively more and more difficult to breathe. All over my body were bruises that ached and swelled helplessly.

Magic was running itself up and down through my veins but I didn't have the will nor the strength to bother using it. It wouldn't really do any good anyway, there was no way it could heal all of this even if I knew how to do the spell. Esther always used to say that power reflects the person that is wielding it. Some magic was angry and rash, others were tranquil and shy. But some were silenced and crippled and caged. I couldn't allow my magic to be free, if I did, then it might be free for everyone. If the body was able to use the magic when I wasn't in control it would wreak havoc. I couldn't allow that, I couldn't afford for that to happen, I could not give myself one more weapon to destroy my own family with if I lost my grip.

"You can't hang on forever, Elijah," he whispered from the back of my mind where he was kept hidden.

I ignored him, instead focusing all my efforts on keeping him at bay, responding would only aggravate him further. He didn't really have a name, I was the only one that existed to the rest of the world so what was the point? All of his atrocities were blamed on me, his legacy and trail of blood were all traced back to me. They called me all sorts of names that really belonged to him. The Noble Martyr was fairly common among the supernatural world. The guards at the compound occasionally called me The Bloodied Stag whenever they thought I couldn't hear, most likely they picked it up from Marcel. Perhaps by far the most well known though, sometimes even before my actual name, was The Beast.

Maybe he had always been there, I couldn't recall that far back. But the inner war between us began after I had been turned, the memories still send shivers down my spine. Stuck and caged in the back of my own head without any control over the body as he slaughtered innocent after innocent. And he didn't stop, long after our blood lust had been fulfilled he continued on, solely for the amusement of it. Just the thought made me nauseous, the blood had been everywhere, pooling on the ground as it flooded from torn open arteries. The sharp smell of iron had filled the air and the deep red had soaked into clothing, dried on skin, and matted in hair.

That image is burned into my memory, I see it littered throughout my nightmares, sometimes even in broad daylight it can sneak up on me. It looked vaguely like me, definitely a resemblance, but it was a different being entirely. Fangs fully extended, veins showing through beneath dark, empty eyes. My clothing had been torn to shreds and barely clinging to my body in tangled strips that were forever stained red. The bloody hue dripped from my teeth and dried where it had spilled down the sides of my mouth and down my throat and neck. A monster, uncaring and cruel, utterly ruthless, standing in a mirror and looking back at me.

I could still see it even now, more than a thousand years later. If I looked too quickly, just a glance out of the corner of my eye as I passed a reflective surface. The blood, the bodies, the fangs, the sadistic, crazed grin. But above all else, the eyes, cold, empty, dark, almost black but with a distinct red glint. With not even a single trace of remorse, passing all the guilt on to me when I could gain the upper hand and take back control again. Completely inhuman, completely not me. But everyone thought that it was, they all thought that I had done all of it, that I was that horrid thing.

His words rang clear through my head on the daily. You can try to hide it, Elijah, but someday, only the monster will remain. They had run a course through my brain after all the years of repetition. Whether I was in a dead sleep or up and about, they would always make their way back to haunt me. Ringing in my ears, firing back and forth in my head, echoing around and seeming to fill the air all around me so that I couldn't escape and everyone could hear.

That was what terrified me most, was that they all knew. Not just knew that I was a monster, but that one day, maybe soon, that was all I would be. Maybe they knew that some day I might be even worse than Mikael, hunting them down and murdering them all ruthlessly. Perhaps they were already planning their escape, to leave me behind. Maybe this had been the opportunity they had been waiting for. Maybe no one was coming. Maybe, if I ever got out of this place, I would return to an empty, deserted compound that they had all left behind and abandoned long ago.

But the worst part of all that, was that I wouldn't blame them for it.

*A/N* Hey, thanks so much for reading, I hope you liked it! The next chapter will hopefully be out in a few days, but no promises. Anyway, whenever it gets out, I'll see you then!

1234 words (no, I'm not kidding, that is actually what it is, 1 2 3 4, low key proud of myself)