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The pain is sharp and brief, and Hayley hisses in reflex. Startled, Elijah pulls away, quickly running his thumb over the place where his teeth had punctured her lip.
“Sorry,” he rasps. They are in Hayley’s room at the compound, both half dressed, and were pleasantly building towards a lovely night.
“It’s alright,” Hayley murmurs, eyes half closed and eager to continue. She moves to kiss him again, but halts when she notices Elijah’s posture. He has his head turned away from her, and his shoulders are tense. Dark veins appear almost imperceptibly under his eyes before disappearing completely.
Hayley shivers. She has seen him like this only once before, when he’d attacked her in the Bayou after Klaus’ bite.
Gently, she places a hand on his cheek and runs her thumb over the skin. He swallows. One hand rises to rest lightly on her wrist, but he doesn’t pull it away.
“Show me,” she whispers.
He rocks back.
“Hayley-”
“I want to see.”
He glances away, vulnerable, hesitant to reveal what he always kept so carefully hidden.
“I’m not afraid any more, Elijah.”
It had taken Hayley a long time to accept that part of herself, the part that made her a hybrid. The enhanced pain and grief had nearly destroyed her, but now she revels in her strength and her control over her wolf form.
She is no longer afraid of the bloodlust residing inside herself.
And she is no longer afraid of the bloodlust residing inside of him.
“Show me,” she asks again.
Elijah takes a deep breath. When he exhales, his eyes turn a dark crimson, close to black. His teeth sharpen into fangs and the veins dance beneath his eyes.
Hayley stares at him, drinking in the sight, caught in a state of wonder. He is beautiful. And infinitly dangerous. But not to her.
She leans forwards and kisses him, deliberately running her tongue over the edge of his teeth. Elijah sighs in her mouth, tension fading. He nibbles at her lip and Hayley can taste her own blood before Elijah licks it away. His chest rumbles against her, and she moans, pressing herself closer.
No more doubts. No more questions. She was his and he was hers, and she would not apologize for loving every part of him, even if part of him was a monster.
After all, she was quite the monster herself.