[BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON]

you'll grow beautifully in your own way.

    SOMETIMES, WHEN PEOPLE go through something traumatic, they turn it off. Kind of what happens when a vampire turns their emotions off. But for humans, it's because they are in shock and numb to everything around them.

Juliette had become numb after her parents died. After a few months of constant crying and breakdowns, she decided that she was forcing herself not to feel anything at all.

It was hard, trying to defuse your emotions. She had to keep herself from crying just to get through the day.

But eventually, after months of trying, she didn't feel anything anymore. She hadn't cried in weeks and she was completely numb.

Juliette did that to protect herself, she couldn't let herself get that hurt ever again.

She hasn't thought about crying in months but today she was so ready to ruin everything she's built over something so silly.

Well, not really silly.

But she heard voices.

Thousands of voices whispered her name, twice.

There was nothing that could explain it. She knows what she heard. At first, she thought she was hearing things, maybe the TV playing while she was making lunch had tricked her ears.

But then when she heard it a second time, she knew she wasn't imagining things. She heard her name being called twice, it was crystal clear.

When Elijah had proved to her that he was the real original vampire who had shown up in her life, Juliette had calmed down. She no longer thought she was crazy anymore.

But with the incident at the Salvatore house, the excruciating headache she got and now hearing things, she no longer believed she was sane, not anymore.

✧✧✧✧

    SINCE THE INCIDENT, Juliette spent the rest of the afternoon in her bedroom. She had made a start on her psychology essay that was due in for the end of the week and she had slightly regretted putting it off until Wednesday.

Well, she didn't really put it off. The whole supernatural drama had forced her to put her studies on hold.

"Juliette! Can you come down here for a moment?" Jenna called out from downstairs, causing the blonde to sigh as she had finally got motivated to actually complete her essay.

Nevertheless, Juliette made her way downstairs in her pyjamas. "What's up?" She asked as she stared down at her phone as she texted her friend, Harley, something.

"I would like you to meet someone."

Juliette furrowed her brows as she looked up, gasping as she saw Elijah standing before her. He was standing in her kitchen, smiling at her. Why must he always smile whenever he looks at me? He's gorgeous.

"This is my niece, Juliette. Juliette this is Elijah. He's doing research on Mystic Falls." Jenna introduced, staring as the Elijah and Juliette just stared at each other.

It was Juliette who made the first move, holding her hand out for the vampire to take, she sent him a smile as she spoke, "It's nice to meet you, Elijah."

"Likewise, Juliette."

His soft hand met hers, sending electricity through both of them. It was merely just a handshake, but they both were going insane for each other.

"I just thought you should keep him company while I look for your mom's boxes," Jenna said before walking to the closet in the hall.

Juliette snapped her head to Elijah, sending him a glare as he just smiled at her, his eyes draped down her body. That's when Juliette realised she was in a cropped vest and short shorts. Whoops...

A blush danced on her cheeks as she looked away from him, shaking her head in disbelief. "Why are you in my house Elijah?" She whispered, keeping her eye on the door to make sure Jenna didn't walk back in.

"Research."

"I will beat you up." She looked over at him, turning her body towards him as she placed her hand on her hip, a stern look on her face. Elijah turned to her too, standing inches away from her.

"Will you now?" He questioned, his face slowly moving closer to hers, his breath warm against her skin. Juliette didn't respond, instead, she let his eyes drift to his lips, slowly trying not to give in to the voice in her head, telling her to kiss him.

Elijah was in the same state; he couldn't help but inch closer, his hand somehow landing on her cheek as his thumb slowly caressed her cheek.

Juliette was going to give in, she was going to forget the hatred she felt for him, she was going to forget the fact that he was the enemy. She was going to give in but she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

She jumped away from Elijah, distancing herself as she heard Elena's voice. What am I doing?! I can't be that close to him!

The closet door shuts and reveals Juliette and Elijah. Elena gasped as she nearly dropped the box she was holding as she started between the two.

"Hey, I'm Elijah."

"Elijah's in town doing research on Mystic Falls."

Elijah finally moved away from Juliette—the blonde felt like she could breathe again—and over to Elena, who was a bag of nerves. The Original Vampire held his hand out to the brunette, "It's a pleasure."

Elena shook his hand, looking over at Juliette who wasn't nervous at the fact that Elijah was in their home but mostly nervous about their interaction before Elena arrived.

How did she let herself get so, so close to him?

"So you're welcome to stay here and rummage through this or Elena, Juliette and I could help load it into your car," Jenna spoke, watching Elijah make his way to the door.

"Or I can get someone to pick it up tomorrow."

"Also a good plan."

Juliette watched as Elijah thanked Jenna for inviting him into their home, a little jab towards Elena and her, and then he turned to be the blonde, that stupid smile on his lips as he said, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Juliette. I hope to see you again sometime soon."

Juliette's eyes drifted over to Jenna who was smiling so hard it looked like it hurt, she was wiggling her brows at the blonde as Juliette replied, "Yeah, yeah, me too."

Elijah sent her one final look before he left, Jenna turned around to look at Juliette and giggled as Elena ran upstairs. "Oh my God, did you hear him? He's practically in love with you Juliette!"

"Jeez Jenna, I met the guy for like five minutes. Calm down."

"Okay, but he said he wants to see you again! That's clearly a sign!"

"A sign to what?" Juliette sighed as she tried to stop the blush invading her cheeks.

"That he likes you!"

"I'm going to bed."

"He likesssss you!!"

"Shut up."

Juliette rolled her eyes as she walked upstairs, gasping as she once again came face to face with Elijah. He gestured for her to follow him into her room with Elena.

"Oh yeah sure, let's just go into my room. That's fine." Juliette said sarcastically, her eyes scanning her bedroom to make sure it wasn't disgustingly messy, that would be embarrassing.

Why do you care?

I don't!

"Forgive the intrusion. I mean your family no harm." Elijah began, walking over to the little bench the blonde had at the end of the bed, he sat down as Juliette jumped on the bed behind him, staring up at the ceiling as Elena spoke.

"Why did you kill the vampires when they tried to take me?"

Juliette scoffed, she still couldn't believe Elena did that, why was she so set on getting herself killed?

"Because I didn't want you to be taken." Elijah replied, "Klaus is the most feared and hated of the Originals, but those that fear him are desperate for his approval. If word gets out that the doppelgänger exists, there'll be a line of vampires eager to take you to him and if they find out how important you are to the sacrifice, they will take you too." He pointed to Juliette who had now stood from the bed and now was sitting at her desk. "I can't have that." His eyes lingered on Juliette's worried expression before Elena spoke again.

"Isn't that exactly what you're trying to do?" She crossed her arms over her chest, sharing a look of worry with her sister.

Elijah smiled at the brunette, "Let's just say that my goal is not to break the curse."

"What is your goal then? Because so far you have tried to kidnap us so you do see why we don't believe you, right?" Juliette butted in.

The vampire smirked at her, almost like they were saying 'I've already told you' as he shook his head and replied, "Klaus' obsession has made home paranoid. He's a recluse. He trusts only those in his immediate circle."

"Like you?"

"Not anymore."

There was a moment of silence as the two girls took everything Elijah said in, Klaus could never find out that Elena exists. If he did know, he would be on his way to Mystic Falls to take her for himself.

"You don't know where he is, do you?" Elena raised her brow, "So, you're going to use me to draw him out."

Smart but dangerous.

Elijah stood up from the bench, walking over to the desk where Juliette was sitting. "Well, to do that I need you to stay put and stop trying to get yourself killed." He said as he picked up a picture of Juliette and her friend, Harley when they were in university together.

"Like she will do that," Juliette mumbled under her breath, earning a chuckle from Elijah and a stern look from Elena. The blonde just shrugged her shoulders at her sister.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" The brunette questioned.

"If I wasn't being truthful, all your family would be dead and I'd be taking you to Klaus right now."  Elijah threatened, using his power to get his own way. "Instead, I'm here and I'm prepared to offer you a deal."

Juliette furrowed her brows as she looked over at Elijah who was now looking through her diary, skimming over the pages. The blonde quickly snatched the book out of his hands, sending him a scowl as he sent her a smirk.

He better not have read the many times I said he was gorgeous...

"What kind of a deal?" Juliette asked.

"Do nothing. Do nothing, live your life, stop fighting and then, when the time is right, you and I shall draw out Klaus together and I shall make sure your friends remain unharmed."

The two sisters shared a look before Juliette said, "And then what?" Her eyes drifted up to Elijah's, he started back as he once again picked up a book from her dressers, his eyes scanning the pages.

"Then I kill him." He stated simply, like he wasn't planning to kill his own brother, his own blood.

"Just like that?"

Elijah looked up from the Jane Austen book as he replied "Just like that. I'm a man of my word, Elena. I make a deal, I keep a deal." He kept firm eye contact with the brunette who didn't look convinced.

Juliette was though, she knew, from her dreams, that Klaus and Elijah weren't on good terms, the latter being manipulative, conniving and controlling. Elijah and Rebekah, who is daggered right now, had had enough of Klaus.

She understood why Elijah wanted to kill his brother, he didn't sound too nice whenever he had told her about him. But she couldn't help but feel a little doubt, will Elijah, when he gets the chance to, actually kill Klaus?

"How are you gonna be able to keep everybody safe?" Elena sent him a look, sitting on the bench at the end of the bed, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I notice you have a friend; Bonnie, is it? She seems to possess the gift of magic. I have friends with similar gifts."

"You know witches."

"Together, we can protect everybody that matters to you." His eyes drift over to Juliette, whose eyes hadn't left him once. "So, do we have a deal?" He spoke again, still holding eye contact with the blonde before she looked away, a blush covering her face.

Elena stayed silent for a few seconds, her mind reeling as she tried to come up with an answer, "I need you to do one more thing for me." She finally said.

"We're negotiating now?" Elijah said, raising his brow and letting out a smile chuckle.

"Yeah, she does that a lot," Juliette mumbled.

"Shut up, Juliette." Elena scowled.

✧✧✧✧

    JULIETTE DIDN'T KNOW how she ended up going with Elijah to receive Stefan from the tomb, Elena had forced her to go to make sure he actually did what she asked.

She wasn't particularly happy about it but she also had a chance to ask him questions.

Juliette was leaning up against a wall as Elijah went into the tomb, she couldn't be bothered looking at Katherine's puppy dog eyes, wanting to get out of the tomb. She looked at the text Bonnie had just sent her, informing her that the moonstone had been destroyed, with the help of Luca.

And also a text from Damon, he had run into trouble with the wolf, who refused to leave town after his threat. I mean, why does he always tell people to leave town like they are actually going to do what he says?

As Juliette put her phone in her pocket, Stefan ran up the steps, his eyes landing on Juliette as he smiled. "Look who's a free man." She exclaimed, equally as happy to see him while he pulled her into a hug.

The two stayed like that for a few seconds before he let go, "Elena's waiting for you, go see her." Juliette mumbled. The Salvatore smiled as he nodded his head before speeding off.

Elijah emerged from the tomb, smiling as he realised Juliette had waited for him. "Let me walk you home, Juli." He said, shrugging off his jacket and holding it out to Juliette who was only wearing a long-sleeved top.

She raised her brow at it, "No thanks." She mumbled before she began to walk. But she felt the jacket get draped over her shoulders so she was kind of forced to slip her arms into it.

"I don't need you to walk me home, I'm sure you've got more important things to do. You know like plan on how you're going to kill your brother." Juliette mumbled, rolling her eyes as she accidentally brushed hands with the Original vampire next to her.

"I do need to walk you home, it's nearly midnight and I'm not going to let you walk home through a dark forest," Elijah replied, pulling back a branch so Juliette wouldn't walk into it.

"I think I'm pretty capable of walking home myself, doesn't matter whether it's dark."

"You're mad at me."

"Wow, you're really only catching on now?"

Elijah fought the urge to burst out laughing, Juliette had a sense of humour that could make anyone laugh. And she was cute when she was mad. "I understand that you're upset, but I can't tell you why you're important to the sacrifice, it's not my place. Not yet anyway."

Juliette sighed, scoffing as finally walked out of the woods, now they were on the sidewalk. "Come on, just tell me." She begged, looking over to Elijah who just shook his head.

"How's your head?"

"Haven't had any complaints yet." Juliette joked, slightly hoping the ancient vampire understood. And by the look he just sent her, he definitely did. "It's fine now, I don't know what happened. It felt like someone was crushing my skull."

"Yes, It was very strange indeed," Elijah mumbled as he tried to rack his brain for any logical explanation for what happened to her, but there wasn't any.

Finally, they reached Juliette's house. Elijah went as far as to walk her to the front door. "Thanks for walking me home," Juliette mumbled as she turned to face him.

"It was my pleasure."

Juliette sent him a smile as she turned to walk into her house but stopped, looking over her shoulder, "And if you ever come into my house again, I will kill you." She threatened an innocent smile on her face.

"Of course, whatever you want, Juli."

The blonde entered her house, shutting the door behind her. Then she realised that she was still wearing Elijah's jacket, she quickly opened the door but the vampire had gone already.

She sighed as walked up the stairs, a smile on her lips as she thought about their time together. No, you're not allowed to do that.

Juliette walked toward Elena's room, going to ask her if Stefan stopped by. But she couldn't because her sister was a bit preoccupied, with Stefan on top of her.

"Ew! Shut the door you sickos!"

✧✧✧✧

Hey guys, finally a chapter is here!!!!

I just want to apologise for my disappearance, school is kicking my ass right now because I had exams so I had to study and then I got sick with some virus thing right before my tests, so that's why I haven't updated in a while.

Unfortunately, I still have three weeks left of school so that's sad. But I plan to not try anymore in lessons, it's way too hot to be bothering in school. So let's hope chapter updates can increase.

I also want to just thank you for 4k reads!!!! It means so much that people are actually enjoying my silly little book!

Anyway, I hope to see you in the next chapter!

Byeeee

29/06/24