Nothing Dark Can Stay, Either

Chapter 17

The time following their night together proved to be rather uneventful, though that only gave Elijah and Beatrix more time to steal glances at each other.

Beatrix knew for a fact that their 'proper goodbye' had been a mistake. A blissful error that had allowed her to relive the pleasure she hadn't had in nearly a century. Sure, she had been with Kai because her needs had been far too great to withhold from, but he was human, and as good as he was, he was nothing compared to Elijah.

And it wasn't in the sense that he wasn't physically gifted. Because he certainly was. But Kai had slept with her because of lust, anger, and frustration. A means for coping and releasing stress to keep motivated without a lingering desire in the back of his mind. He got intimate with her solely because he needed to feel a more human connection than what he could take care of on his own. He stayed the night only when it was convenient to fit into fantasies of murder, which certainly aroused him more than anything he could do with her, no matter how sexually graphic it was.

With Elijah, Beatrix felt safe, and his priority had always been pleasing her rather than just using her for his own desires. He took his time and while it could feel aggravating, it overloaded her with satisfaction that made her see red and white over and over, squirming and losing herself at his will, always under his control. He knew just how to make her shiver— what spots to touch that would drive her crazy. What pace he needed to take in every step of the way to ensure he left her looking a mess when he was done with her. He never left when they were done. He held her into the night, wanting to feel her falling asleep in his hold after he'd left her too tired to do anything else, especially any sort of movement.

They did not speak of what they had done. They could feel stares from Cami, and smirks coming their way, because she of course knew what they'd done as a coping mechanism. Neither commented on it. They spoke normally, taking care of Hope and entertaining the little girl enough to keep her smiling and happy. It wasn't until one evening that Klaus called, and Elijah stepped outside, though Beatrix could not resist her temptation to listen in.

"The wedding works in our favor," he said, after he'd explained to Elijah that he'd spoken to Hayley about her having to tell Jackson the truth about Hope due to their wedding rituals. "Newly-empowered and ruled by Hayley, the wolves will be an asset to our family."

"Yes, assuming you're willing to trust Jackson with our secrecy," said Elijah smoothly. "I must confess, brother— I'm a little surprised to find that you do."

"Well, my faith in Jackson is a means to an end." Typical Klaus. "If I had simply killed him, Hayley would have turned against me. You should have seen the ferocity with which she defended him. It was impressive. That said, I don't take the matter of secrets lightly. Once the wedding takes place and the wolves are forever altered, well, Jackson's fate becomes a little less certain."

She heard the phone call end— presumably Klaus's doing. Breathing deeply, she acted as though she hadn't been listening, and took a sip of her water. She'd been trying to urge herself to drink water and blood rather than using alcohol to calm herself. It wasn't like she could get drunk anyway.

She looked down at her phone and blinked at the notification. Apparently, someone wanted to follow her on Twitter. She went into the app, going toward the tab where her follow requests were. As it turned out, there were quite a few that she hadn't seen before, but mostly random accounts that were promoting something or pretending to be a model.

"Catfishes," she murmured as she looked at the profiles. "Jesus, there are so many of them..." She suddenly stopped as she looked down at one that stood out from the others. @ Cobrakai1972.

She went into the profile and saw that it had been made quite recently. Her heart began to beat very fast. Kai was out of the prison world, it seemed. She allowed him to follow her and followed back. Almost immediately, she got a message.