Dangerous Creatures

Change of Plans

Elijah arrived very quickly. When he knocked on the door, however, no one answered. He could smell blood from outside and the thought of breaking in crossed his mind for about a second. However, he decided to try and see if the door wasn't already unlocked, which it was. As soon as he came in, he could hear someone whispering. It didn't take long for him to locate Mackenzie as she was the source of the incessant whispers. She didn't react when he closed the door. He wondered if she had heard him come in and if she was just ignoring him. He wasn't worried about the blood coming from her as he knew if it were, it would be a much stronger smell.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Mackenzie kept repeating like a broken record.

She was sitting on the kitchen floor, her knees were brought up to her chest with her arms around her legs. She was moving back and forth as she was sobbing and sniffing between whispers.

Elijah approached slowly as to not startle her. He didn't know she was perfectly aware of his presence. She had heard him knock and even before that she had felt his presence. The magic inside of an original vampire's body was very powerful and it was hard for an ultimate to miss.

The scene gradually revealed itself as he stepped forward. Seeing Robert's cold body lying before Mackenzie was barely a surprise. He imagined that Robert must have been quite confused as to what had happened to him and if he attacked Mackenzie it shouldn't surprise any of them by now that her powers would cause an accident like this.

"Mackenzie," he said as gently as he could, the last thing he wanted to do was scare her.

But the elemental didn't reply. She kept whispering, sobbing and sniffing as she stared at the motionless man in front of her. Elijah took another step before he squatted next to her.

"Hey."

For the first time since he arrived, Mackenzie reacted to him. She shook her head as she frowned, not moving her eyes away from her stepfather.

"I don't know what happened," she whispered. "I'm sorry..."

"I know," Elijah said as he placed his hand on her back. "It's okay."

"No," she whimpered. She sounded exhausted. "It's not okay."

"What happened?" he asked, even though he could guess.

Mackenzie closed her eyes and more tears fell down her cheeks. She sniffed, then took a shaky breath before she wiped her wet cheeks with her hand. She suddenly looked away from Robert before she got up. She couldn't see it anymore, she felt like she was going crazy. She didn't want to see him ever again.

Elijah stood up too but didn't follow her when she stepped away from the kitchen.

"I killed him," she answered his question. "I... He was... and then I was and then... I killed him," she repeated as she broke down in tears.

Elijah turned his head away from the young girl and towards the kitchen and looked down at the man lying at the foot of the countertop in a pool of his own blood. The vampire wasn't bothered one second by the tragic sight. He looked up and saw there was blood in the corner of the counter.

"What happened?" he asked again as he turned to face her.

That's when he saw the bruise on her forehead. It didn't look like it was from a punch.

"I was..." she sniffed. "He pushed me and... I hit the wall," she said as she pointed to the wall with her finger and brought her other hand to her aching forehead, "and then he forced me to turn around and..." she sniffed again, "he was going to punch me so... I raised my hands and that's when... that's when he... that's when I..."

"You pushed him away with your powers and his head hit the corner of the kitchen counter," he finished.

She nodded as she looked down. "Yes," she cried. "I didn't mean to..."

"I know," he said.

"What am I gonna do?" she whined as she finally looked up at him.

He could see shame, despair and fear on her face. He didn't know what to tell her. To him, this wasn't a big deal. He would have killed him himself if she had let him. But she didn't want him dead. She didn't feel like he deserved death after all he did to her. So what could he tell her now? Now that she had killed him herself.

"Nothing," Elijah replied.

She gave him a confused look before she wiped more tears off her face.

"I'm going to take care of it."

"Wh- how?"

"It doesn't matter," he said. "Go upstairs, take a shower, go to bed. This will be over in the morning."

Mackenzie frowned and gave him a puzzled and horrified look. She seemed angry.

"Over?" she repeated. "He's dead! He's not coming back, I killed him!" she cried. "It's not over, I did that, and I can't... I can't undo it!"

"That's okay," Elijah told her calmly. "It was an accident. You were defending yourself."

"But I..." she started to say, "I didn't mean to..."

"Mackenzie," he cut her off as he took a step forward.

She looked up at him with her big wet eyes. He put his hands on her shoulders and locked his eyes in hers.

"This isn't your fault. This was an accident." And it's not like he didn't deserve it, is what he wanted to say but he knew she didn't want to hear it. "Go to bed. You need sleep."

"What am I gonna do?"

"I will take care of it. Don't worry."

She didn't reply to him and she could see he was waiting for her to do as he asked. But she couldn't. She knew what he was saying was right; it was an accident, but she still felt it was her fault. She also knew what he wasn't saying, and what he was probably thinking; he deserved it. She knew Elijah wasn't bothered by it, by his death, by her killing another human being. But it did bother her, and the mere thought of doing it again, on accident or on purpose, was killing her.

"Elijah..." she said in a shaky whisper.

"What is it?" he replied as he gently wiped the tears off her right cheek with his thumb.

"I can't do it, I'm sorry..."

"Can't do what?"

"Klaus... your brother... I can't do it," she said as she shook her head, carefully looking at his face, waiting for him to get angry.

But he didn't. She was expecting his face to turn cold, but instead, his features softened.

"I don't want to kill anyone else," she cried. "I can't use my powers, I don't wanna use my powers..."

"It's okay," he cut her off as he brought her to his chest.

He placed his right hand behind her head and slid his other hand on her back, embracing her as she kept mumbling.

"I'm sorry, I can't do it, please don't make me do it..."

"It's okay," he repeated as he caressed her hair in an attempt to calm her. "I understand. Jonas will do it. It's okay."