The moments after this particularly pleasurable incident of course had to be quite awkward. Grace had thought that here, in the confined space of his bed, they were the same people they had been back in Mystic Falls. But both of them had gravely changed, they'd become darker, rougher. Maybe that was why they'd been in perfect harmony with each other.
Now that the ecstasy and adrenaline had vanished, they were back to their very tensed state. To be honest it was worse than before. While Elijah wanted to hold her in his arms afterwards and cuddle close, Grace was quick to free herself out of his embrace and stand up.
Gathering her scattered closes, she felt Elijah's gaze on her, a hurt expression obvious on his face. Grace simply felt embarrassed. She couldn't say that she regretted doing this, but the aftermath was quite annoying.
"You want to leave?"
His voice was serious. He felt a harsh loss when she broke the contact and fled from his arms. There had been this tiny glimpse of hope that things could go back to how they'd used to be.
"Yes, of course. I meant what I said. Cuddling and sleeping here isn't part of the deal."
That's exactly why Grace liked one night stands. At least those guys didn't want to talk afterwards. She started to understand why sleeping with an ex was a bad idea. But on the other hand it was so disturbingly good.
"Enlighten me, what exactly is part of the deal, then?"
The Original's lips were pressed into a thin line. He was upset by what had just happened. For this precious time he spent with her he had been close to happy and now pain took over again. It felt like the thin bond they established shattered all over again.
"First of all, stop being so....you. I'm not a fool, Elijah. Have you really thought I could just go back to normal? After all this time, I'm starting to heal, to get over what you've done to me. Can you see why it is a particularly dumb idea to do...this?"
She motioned for the bed. Elijah sat up and took her hand in his.
"Grace, I know you. It's..."
Suddenly she yanked her hand away from his.
"You don't know a thing about me. Stop pretending like you actually care about how I feel. If you really did, you wouldn't make it that hard for me now."
She hissed, turned on her heel and left the flat. Elijah heard her footsteps on the floor above him and he sighed, covering his face with his hands. He actually managed to destroy it all over again.
...
The mood was cold as ice when they together left for Marcel's an hour later. They didn't speak a word, but at least they were civilized enough to walk side by side. Both were deeply lost in their own thoughts and highly tensed because of the other's presence.
They just shared a look when they heard shouting coming from the former warehouse. Witches were gathered around Josephine and yelled for a certain 'Eva'. It looked ironically like a medieval mob with forks and fire on a witch hunt.
And of course Rebekah Mikaelson was the center of attention, chin raised, foolishly brave.
"Take her."
Josephine stated, but before the witches could lay a finger on Rebekah, Grace and Elijah angrily pushed through the mass, fortunately for them they made space for the Original and the younger vampire.
"That won't be necessary."
Elijah stated deadly calm. The witches seemed to know that this tone was reserved for people he won't hesitate to kill. They positioned themselves in front of Rebekah with Marcel.
"I thought we had a deal, Miss LaRue."
Grace stared the elderly witch down with her arms crossed in front of her chest. But Josephine only smiled.
"The deal doesn't stand if you don't keep your...family in check."
Her eyes flickered to Rebekah and Grace's lip curled upwards in anger. She knew she was being overly protective, but it seemed her friend needed all protection she could get.
"I'm sorry for your loss, but Marcellus here tells the truth. Rebekah Mikaelson occupies the body of Eva Sinclair, and my sister is innocent of this crime."
He but emphasis on 'my sister' to underline the fact that he wouldn't tolerate threats towards her. Grace smiled lightly.
"...You have my word that I'll find who is responsible for this and make sure that justice is served...and now I would encourage you all to leave."
The Original had strutted towards the witch in charge, his tone icy. He was at his best in such moments; he made people shake in fear when articulated himself that well while at the same time stating numerous violent consequences.
"You have until tomorrow. After that it won't matter what I say. Witches won't stop at nothing to protect their children. An impulse I know you can respect."
Josephine of course didn't fear him. She was one of this people that thought herself of being wise, her faint, raspy voice fitted the image, but they all forgot that most of the vampires here were numerous times older and eradicated more difficult threats.
When the group of witches finally left, Elijah turned around with a sigh.
"Since when does our family take ultimatums from bloody witches?"
Grace hissed, anger still obvious.
"Since we have family members that are particularly vulnerable."
Elijah answered the rhetorical question, to which his lover shot him a death glare.
"...What is this, sister? Do you know anything of what they're accusing you?"
He continued and now shifted his gaze to Rebekah who looked down, biting her lower lip.
"There's something I need to tell you...I've been having dreams...no, flashes, of those murders...I have blackouts...Elijah, I think whoever inhabited this body is trying to break free."
Every one frowned, trying to process that this was even possible. When Kol and Finn were in different bodies, they didn't seem to have problems with the minds of the rightful owners.
Elijah rubbed his stubbled chin before glancing to his clock and sighed.
"Niklaus invited me for lunch. I bet he made Freya come, too. Maybe she can help in this matter."
Grace just chuckled sarcastically.
"Are you really stupid enough to let your backstabbing, definitely not trustworthy newbie sister lay a finger on your obviously more important sister?"
His brows furrowed when he heard his harsh tone and turned fully towards Grace.
"Do you think I want to ask her? We need to eradicate this...spirit inside Rebekah, as soon as possible and if Freya can help, forgive me that I dare to consider it."
She shook her head unbelievingly. He defended the woman that let her pass out without hesitating. So much to family. How could a man like him be so naive?
"Your call, Elijah. Just be sure that I'll laugh in your face when she shows her real intentions. Oh, no, I forgot, I tend to get involved, too, when you get backstabbed."
"Niklaus' paranoia seems to have an influence on you, doesn't it?"
Her hands clenched into fists when he continued the fight. She so wanted to punch him right in the face. But Rebekah stepped in between them and looked at them confused.
"Enough. I'll go see Davina first and see if she can help. Would you mind coming with me, Gracie?"
"Gladly."
Grace shot Elijah one last glare before she stomped off, Rebekah hurrying after her. The newbie witch gasped when she reached the vampire striding along, struggling to keep up with her pace.
"What's going on with you two?"
She tried to choose her words carefully, she knew best how sensitive this topic was for Grace.
"Nothing. Everything's peachy."
She answered tersely, to which Rebekah rolled her eyes.
"Oh yes, I saw that. If looks could kill, my brother would be struck dead by now."
Grace stopped abruptly and raised her brows at her friend.
"Beks, to you really want to know?"
She seemed to finally understand what Grace meant scrunched up her nose in disgust.
"Ugh, Gracie, did you really..."
"Yes, I did."
Grace answered helping Rebekah avoid speaking about her brother's sex life.
"Well, in contrary to my brothers I saw how you broke down after Elijah left you. I don't wanna see that again. So I'd recommend you finally pull yourself together, because I sure as hell know that you two are some kind of meant to be."
The vampire groaned Mostly because she knew that what Rebekah said was true. She had this annoying habit of always being right.
"Speaking of meant to be, how's Marcel doing?"
Grace gave her a look and Rebekah sighed defeatedly.
"Touche."
...
This cemetery always made Grace heavily uncomfortable. Maybe it was because she was so sensitive to spirits and other supernatural juju, or it was because she just can't stand witches at all.
Davina wasn't an exception from this. Grace hadn't seen much of the infamous teenage girl. The last time she had seen her was when Kol died. Of course she had seen how much Kol and Davina loved each other, that and the fact that Josh liked her may have created a little soft spot for the witch in her heart, but Grace's strong connection to Nik would always prevent them from becoming anything close to friends. She resurrected and let Mikael loose and tried to kill her best friend every time she could, which was enough reason to be quite judge about her.
At least she was trying to bring Kol back.
Grace let the witches talk while she roamed through the room bored and inspected some of the enchanted items to distract herself from thinking about Elijah.
"Hey, don't touch this."
The teenager snapped as her eye fell on Grace, who raised her hands in mock defense.
"Calm down. I have no clue how to use this stuff anyway."
Davina obviously was on the edges of her nerves. Even Grace could see that the girl seriously needed some sleep.
"Can't you stop snooping in my business and do something useful instead?"
Her patience quickly melted. Over the past few months Grace's temper grew even shorter than usual and she hated it to be disrespected.
"Do we have a problem, teeny witchy?"
Grace stepped intimidatingly close to Davina. They fought a staring contest and Grace was impressed that the younger girl didn't back down. Rebekah sighed and pushed her friend backwards.
"Gracie, why don't you wait outside?"
Her eyes flickered to Rebekah, but she complied. She was right, two girls of Grace's and Davina's caliber in an awful mood and a similar bad temper were way too explosive for this small room.
Outside she leaned against a tomb stone, closed her eyes and sighed. She behaved like a child today. The problem was that she had to face a serious talk with Elijah soon. It couldn't go on like this.
Rebekah showed up around fifteen minutes later which gave her way too much time to think.
"Can we finally go now?"
But her friend didn't answer. She just muttered something that sounded like French and suddenly pain exploded in Grace's head and she fell to her knees.
"Beks, what the hell..."
She manage to gasp in between pained screams. Rebekah looked down to her with a dark, cruel smile on her face. To take out her protector and witness of what just happened here, she snapped Grace's neck with a flick of her wrist.
...
When she woke up the sun was already setting. There was no trace of Rebekah anywhere. The cemetery was completely empty which made it even more creepy.
She must've been out for around an hour and she had no clue where to look for the youngest Mikaelson sister. So she had to storm towards the compound angrily, ignoring the annoying tourists strolling through Bourbon street in a slow pace. She pushed some aside and tried hard not to rip their heads off because they threw insults at her.
It didn't get better when the first people she saw in the compound were Freya and Elijah. She heard Rebekah upstairs, so she simply wanted to walk past them. But of course Elijah had to step in front of her and block her way, worry visible in his dark eyes. All her intentions of being civilized were thrown over board. She raised her hand to stop him from opening his mouth.
"Nope. Don't 'Grace' me."
Freya beside them hid a little grin which pushed Grace nearly over the edge.
"Anger issues?"
The witch murmured and caught a glare from Elijah who had to hold back a raging Grace from lunging at her. It annoyed the hell out of Grace that he could stop her that easily. Stupid Original strength. Quickly she shrugged his hands off and went on her way to see Rebekah.
"What the hell was that about?"
Grace rubbed her still aching neck. She wasn't mad at her, the vampire already figured that this must've been this Eva-person. Nik and Rebekah looked at her in equal worry, the hybrid immediately stepping to his friends side, automatically checking if she really was ok.
"I'm so, so sorry!"
Rebekah pleaded and Grace sighed, but crossed the gap between them and hugged her tightly. She was simply relieved that she seemed to be ok.
"I know. Have you figured out a way to stop this?"
Before she could answer, she felt the presence of Freya and Elijah behind her and the way Rebekah looked at her guiltily, she knew that their long lost sister was the answer to her question. She exchanged a quick glance with Nik, who seemed equally pissed at the sudden importance of the untrustworthy sister. He had went over to the small table in the room and poured himself and Grace a strong drink before sitting in the armchair.
Grace swallowed a snarky comment directed at Freya and fell onto the comfy piece of furniture beside Nik, drowning the drink he poured her in one deep sip.
"Elijah already explained the problem. I can help."
She walked towards Rebekah smiling and her sister returned the gesture. Amazing, not only Elijah fell for the witch, Rebekah did too. Usually Grace trusted her instincts, but now she better sticked with Nik.
"Rather confident, aren't we?"
Grace chuckled at Nik's comment and earned a glare from Elijah. Freya ignored it and told them how she wanted to free Rebekah off Eva Sinclair. Of course Nik didn't trust her one bit with the life of his sister. Grace tried her best to block the bickering and story time out by drinking one shot after the other. But when Freya turned towards Elijah and told him lovely stories about how enchanted she was when Esther was pregnant with him, Grace nearly lost it. It ended all in Nik snapping the witches' neck and Elijah shouting angrily at his brother.
The glass in Grace's hand shattered and she jumped to her feet.
"Are you really that naive, Elijah? She tells you nice stories of her particularly lovely childhood and you open your arms and welcome her as family?"
Elijah's eyes stared into hers and for a moment they both forgot that they were again making a scene.
"Haven't I done the same to you?"
It was the most unfair thing he ever said to her, he knew it the moment he spoke these words. She wanted to slap him hard across the face for this. The words cut through her heart like a sharp knife, but still her pride prevented her from showing that. Raising her chin, she turned on her heel and walked out. The tears only spilled when no one could see them.
"Well done, brother."
Nik muttered and walked after her.
...
He comforted her for a while and she felt immensely better, but he had to leave to take care of Freya, so Grace went back to her home. Nik promised her to squeeze some truth out of their intruder and jokingly asked her if he should make Elijah suffer.
It helped her calming, but being alone at the home she nearly shared with Elijah didn't make things easier. She thought about it. Was she really just a lost welp to him? Why did he simply trust Freya? This girl didn't even have a clue what it meant to be a Mikaelson. Grace had done a lot for them, sacrificed nearly everything. Like Elijah, she put family first. For them, she even lost him.
A knock on the door startled her. She could imagine who it was, but her feet were already getting her to the door. When she opened, she found Elijah, his lips parted, as if surprised that she even opened the door for him.
They stared at each other for a while, before Elijah was the first one to find words.
"I'm sorry, Grace. I...I didn't mean what I said."
Sighing, she stepped aside to let him in.
"It still hurt like hell."
She admitted and looked up to him. Grace knew that his apology was genuine and she forgave him, but like always it left scars on her heart. Doubts she couldn't push away.
"I don't want anything or anyone to get in between us, Grace. I trust you. I trust you more than anyone in this world."
He whispered and placed his hand on her cheek. Grace wanted to say that she wasn't the problem in this case, she also wanted to say sorry for behaving like a brat today, but when she looked in his eyes, her mind was blank. The fire, the emotion that burnt in his eyes erased it all.
Elijah was too lost in her and he didn't really think when he leaned down and pulled her in for longing kiss. What surprised him even more that she returned the kiss. It quickly turned heated and they both knew that the same as last night was about to happen if they won't stop now.
Grace only pulled away shortly, but she could speak. With her eyes she pleaded him to pull back, to finally set her free, but he wasn't capable of doing it. When his hands connected with her skin again and his lips covered hers, he was selfish. For a thousand years he had always thought about anyone else, but with her, the love of his life, he couldn't do what would've been right. They were toxic for each other and they both knew it.
...
This time, it was Elijah who got out of the bed first. He knew that she wanted it like this and he had to make up for some things.
"Let me at least cook you dinner."
The Original stated before she could say anything. Grace sighed and watched as he pulled up his pants and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him to give her some privacy. As if she needed that in her own place.
She needed a minute to tell herself that this didn't mean anything. That they just lost some piled up aggression. But she also had to admit that she couldn't get enough of it.
A light smirk was on her face when she got out of bed. She opened the door and chirped cheeringly.
"Are you up for another round, or..."
She stopped herself when she noticed the looks of not just Elijah, but also Nik on her. Grace was so lost in thought, she hadn't heard him entering, which was quite inconvenient, considering she was split naked.
Nik's surprised face, which in every other situation would've been beyond funny, turned into a mischievous smirk as he inspected her body with raised brows.
"Um, I should get dressed, shouldn't I?"
"Don't bother, love."
Elijah shot his brother a glare and Grace stepped back and quickly got something on. When the embarrassment faded, she had to hold back a laugh.
"You two can't be serious with this."
Nik stated when Grace got back out. She rolled her eyes as she joined the brothers. Elijah was awkwardly silent. His brother was close to burst out laughing.
"Can you please stop looking at me like you've just seen me naked?"
He chuckled wryly at her remark.
"But I have. And I seriously liked what I saw, so..."
"Niklaus!"
Elijah stopped his brother from spilling any further indiscretions.
"Don't worry, I'm not about to fall into your disgusting tendency to share. Could you just please discuss your plans for global domination somewhere else? Believe it or not, from time to time, I'm still trying to study."
She kissed both men on the cheek before pushing them to the door, amused by the baffled looks they gave her when she kicked them out for tonight.