♤ ı [0] Awaiting the Everlasting

ı 04 ı 1495

"Don't play this childish game, I saw what you did to Armourvill beside us, that small, innocent town."

"Oh right, that," I hiss sarcastically. "You see Elijah, you've got to be a little more specific. I've been busy lately." I smile to myself, not meeting Elijah's eye.

"They're calling it the Armourvill massacre, James. They think it was some attack by some pack of wolves, wild animals, but no, it was just you." He shakes his head, disappointed at me. "That town was filled with innocent people, children and wives and loving husbands...but you don't care do you?" Elijah frowns.

The truth is, with no humanity I couldn't care less. I don't know what it's like to be in love, to want to have children, not that it's even possible now. Hell, with my humanity off I don't really see a clear future for me, so why would I care about anyone else? I'm a vampire, a monster, and the only thing that will satisfy me is to kill Klaus. Only then will I be fulfilled, and only then will I end my life.

There's a certain peace knowing that all of this will be over soon. I will no longer have to hear Elijah's complaints about my vampire business, because I plan to do what I was supposed to do that night Klaus stabbed me in the heart; I plan to die. For now, I want to have a little fun.

"That town is going to win us a meeting with Mikael, and it's going to put an end to this tedious revenge scheme we've been playing for almost five hundred years." I growl irritably.

"I've been going along with this scheme with you James, because it's what you wanted. I hate what Klaus did to you, to Lexi and Joel, so I promised to help you do whatever you needed to in order to feel better, to find justice." He pauses, taking a seat on the bench beside me. "But you've gone too far James, lost yourself. Look at you, killing an entire town. That's not like you-"

"Nothing that I am anymore is who I was, don't you realize that?" I scoff. "I'm not the James Branson that was born in Mystic Falls, and you aren't the Elijah Mikaelson that was born there either. The faster you realize that, the faster you can get on with your life and stop holding yourself back from all its potential."

"I'm not holding myself back James, I'm trying to remain who I was," Elijah says nobly.

"By doing that Elijah, you're leading yourself straight to death. Can't fight the fire if you're going to remain the spark," I tell him, inhaling deeply as I try to ignore my hidden humanity, the one that is trying to make me feel bad for slaughtering innocent people. Now's not the time to feel. I'm not done with this side of the switch yet.

"Well I'm done watching you destroy yourself. I toyed along for three years while you enjoyed being emotionless, but I think it's time to turn it back on," Elijah sighs, causing me to look over at him with a perplexed expression.

"What does that mean?" I question forcefully.

"What he means brother, is that we're about to trigger some emotions back into you," Lexi whispers from behind me, her breath tickling my ear. "Nice haircut by the way."

I let out an audible growl as Joel stands in front of me, his arms crossed across his chest so stubbornly. "Now is not the time. I'm meeting with Mikael today," I say confidently, sure that he'll actually show up.

"James, Mikael is the bloody reason we had to go on the run, the reason we suddenly vanished!" Joel exclaims, flailing his arms out to his sides. "He tracked us down to get to the Mikaelsons, and now you wanna meet him face to face?"

"Wow, you really have lost your mind big brother." Lexi shakes her head.

While the two of them gang up on me and speak nonsense, my attention is directed else where, my eyes placed on a man standing across the street at the entrance of a pub, just staring me down. We lock eyes for several moments, and I already know who it is; it's Mikael himself.